The North Shore-LIJ Health System last week unveiled the Long Island Jewish Medical Center’s Inpatient Tower, a 300,000-square foot, 10-story structure that brings the look of the 57-year-old medical facility in New Hyde Park into the 21st Century.
The $300-million expansion project, which is the largest in the history of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, houses the Zuckerberg Pavilion and Katz Women’s Hospital.
Nearly 400 trustees, donors, administrative and a variety of other staff members attended the ceremonial opening last Thursday as the hospital prepares for the facility’s opening to the public next month.
“It was a major historic event for us and something that all of us are very proud of us,” said Terry Lynam, North Shore-LIJ vice president of public relations.
“There have obviously been updates and renovations over the years, but for those who are familiar with the hospital, it has that vintage 1950s look about it,” Lynam added. “The reality is that in this day and age, expectations are significantly greater than they were decades ago in terms of the experience at a hospital.”
Lynam said North Shore officials believe the hospital, which straddles the Nassau and Queens county borders, will become a “destination hospital” once it opens.
“This project has been in the works for many years,” Lynam said. “We started construction in 2008, but we had been talking about it for years prior to that. The whole idea is to make the hospital experience more like a hotel-like experience rather than a stay at the hospital.”
For the health system, that meant a move away from multiple-bed hospital rooms.
The newly renovated Katz Women’s Hospital and Zuckerberg Pavilion feature a combined 162 private rooms, along with a variety of other amenities for patients and their families.
The facilities feature an Au Bon Pain restaurant, meditation suite, family resource center and a Vivo Health Marketplace and Wellness Boutique.
“Clearly, we’ve entered a new era in health-care delivery, and when this beautiful facility opens next month, we’ll begin writing an entire new chapter in the history of LIJ Medical Center,” Medical Center Executive Director Chantal Weinhold said.
The 57,000 square-foot Zuckerberg Pavilion features a two-story lobby, which serves as the entrance to the facility. On the eight and ninth floors of the tower, the pavilion also houses 60 patient rooms for heart, orthopedic and urology surgery patients – along with a pharmacy.
“It’s a very environmentally friendly building as well,” Lynam said. “There was a lot of effort put into place to make sure it is a facility that the community can be proud of.”
The Katz Women’s Hospital occupies the third through sixth floors of the building. It features 88 single-patient rooms, plus four operating rooms and newborn nurseries, along with 14 labor and delivery rooms. Rooms for family members of new mothers will be available as well.
The LIJ and North Shore University hospitals account for more than 13,000 baby deliveries between them each year, making the hospitals among the busiest for maternity patients in the state, Lynam said.
With the newly renovated Katz Women’s Hospital now in place, the health system is expecting those numbers to grow much larger.
“Some hospitals clearly over the years have developed maternity programs that are focused on providing a higher end of care to women during their pregnancy and delivery,” Lynam said. “Again, there’s nothing really to compare (Katz Women’s Hospital) to in New York.”
