Wayne Memorial Hospital: Homegrown Dedication
Hospitals
Written by Amanda Gaines   
Tuesday, 01 January 2008
Wayne Memorial Hospital: Homegrown Dedication - Health Executive - RedCoat Publishing
When developing the plans for its new facility, the administration of this acute care hospital called upon the community.
Technological advancements improve the way hospitals care for their patients. But for Wayne Memorial Hospital, IT changed the location of the hospital altogether.

Wayne Memorial Hospital: Homegrown Dedication - Health Executive - RedCoat Publishing
Joe Ierardi, President and CEO
Since its opening in 1956, the infrastructure of the Georgia-based acute care hospital had started to wear, and the ability to run the cabling and wiring associated with new technology wasn’t there. The administration evaluated the facility and soon realized the cost difference between renovating a 50-year-old facility and building a new one was minimal.

After a needs assessment, the team came up with an estimate of $47 million. But when looking at the hospital’s borrowing capacity, the numbers came up well short. “Our borrowing capacity was only $20 million,” said Joe Ierardi, president and CEO. “We talked to our local county officials and found a way for us to receive funds via a SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) via a referendum.”

The hospital and the county decided to split the tax, with the county using its portion for roads, sewers, and infrastructure, and the other half going to the hospital over a 15-year period. The county offered to give Wayne Memorial the first $10 million of the tax, and every dollar after would go to the county, it still wasn’t enough.

Through the hospital’s retained earnings, the administration believed it could afford another $2 million, but with $15 million unaccounted for, things looked bleak. “The county said they would put on another referendum for a 15-year assessment on the county tax to finance $15 million in general obligation bonds, which brought us to our $47 million limit, but the catch was we needed to have the community vote yes on both taxes,” said Ierardi. “It was difficult to believe we could get folks to pass not only one but two taxes upon themselves, but in September 2004, that’s exactly what happened.”

Less is more
Three years later, Wayne Memorial opened its doors in Jesup, Ga. And while three years may seem like a long time to some, according to Ierardi, it was a strategic decision. After hiring AHFD (American Health Facilities Development) as its program manager, Gresham Smith and Partners as its architect, and Robins & Morton as its contractor (all, incidentally, are from Tennessee), the teamwork started, and a rough draft of the new facility was constructed. But when Katrina hit, building prices skyrocketed.

“We had to find a way to cut about $2 million off of our facility plan when we found ourselves over budget. We went back to the drawing board and looked at what we could live without.” Across the board, staff members, administrators, and physicians suggested making their offices a little smaller. “When you’re talking about $200-plus per square foot, reducing a 120-square-foot office to 110 square feet adds up.”

Department managers then stepped up and suggested interdepartmental break rooms. Combined with myriad other minimal cuts, the hospital soon found itself in the clear. But rather than break ground immediately, they decided to carefully review the plans to eliminate the number of change orders typically resultant of fast acting and minimal planning. Although some areas were redesigned five and six times, Ierardi said the leadership of AHFD, Gresham Smith, and Robins & Morton led to outcomes beyond what he could have expected.

“We broke ground in June 2006, and we moved into our building September 22, 2007,” he said. “We completed the project two or three weeks ahead of schedule, and we also came in under budget.”

Have a little faith
Ierardi is quick to point out that although the corporate partners played a tremendous role in the success of Wayne Memorial’s new facility, none would have been possible without the dedication of the staff. Starting in January 2007, the hospital’s “move” team, chaired by clinical education coordinator Debbie Stively, hired Allied Hospital Movers for the equipment piece of the transition, but the patient move was employee coordinated 100%.

“We had 30 patients to move,” Ierardi said. “They started at 6 a.m., and by 8:30 that morning, we were completely out of the old facility and operational in the new one.” Employees organized by shirt color. Those who were on the patient move team wore yellow, designated them untouchable by anyone other than those 30 patients. Those wearing red shirts were in the general move team, while white shirts designated general staff members and black shirts were security. But employee participation didn’t stop there. Department managers met with their staff, and any suggestions were brought back to the design and construction teams.

In addition, the administration went through patient surveys and incorporated those suggestions into the design. “Folks didn’t like that when they came into our old building, they had to walk all over the hospital in preparation for a simple one-day surgery,” Ierardi said. “We designed those areas to be much closer.”

Patients complained about the long wait time in the hospital’s ED, and after making it much larger, the wait time in the new facility was reduced by 50 minutes. Since the move, the hospital has also seen a 22% patient volume increase when comparing October 2006 numbers to October 2007, and in addition to upgrading its CT and MRI capabilities, the hospital is fully wired to tackle the next big thing: an EMR.

“People expect me to tell them this project was a huge headache, but it wasn’t because we had experts with us,” Ierardi said. “We put our trust in them, and in our employees, and all parties delivered.”
 
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