St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Plans $129 Million Addition
PONTIAC (WWJ) - St. Joseph Mercy Oakland will have a by-invitation-only groundbreaking event to kick off construction of its new $129 million South Patient Tower at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, on the hospital campus, 44405 Woodward Ave., Pontiac.
Media personality Lila Lazarus will emcee the program. Scheduled speakers also include Metropolitan Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, SJMO president and CEO Jack Weiner, Trinity Health president and CEO Joseph Swedish, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Pontiac Mayor Leon Jukowski, SJMO board of trustees chair Timotheus Weeks, SJMO chief of staff Dr. Nitin C. Doshi, SJMO Foundation board chair Nancy Smith, SJMO McAuley Club president Edward Boutros and Sr. Suzanne Skowronski of the Sisters of Mercy.
Founded in 1927 by the Sisters of Mercy, SJMO is a 443-bed acute care, teaching and community hospital. Specializing in women's and children's health, orthopedics, oncology, cardiology, neuroscience, surgery and emergency medicine, the hospital has won numerous awards and honors for patient care and safety, quality and excellence.
The new eight-story tower will have 136 technologically enhanced, private patient rooms initially, with room to open 72 more. In addition, there will be plenty of support space for families, who are vital to the healing process. The new patient rooms are targeted for medical-surgical patients and will replace existing smaller rooms that currently cannot accommodate new medical and communications technology and families.
Some features of the new tower include:
* Dedicated elevators for patient transport, visitors, food delivery, clean and soiled laundry to prevent the spread of germs and cross-contamination
* Aesthetic elements giving the tower a softer, 21st century image
* Physical pathways between the tower and other campus buildings to create safe, secure, smooth navigation connections for patients, visitors, clinical staff and associates
* A newly designed contemporary lobby enhanced with artwork, an atrium and indoor gardens
* A new, 355-space visitor parking lot.
Related construction activities include:
* A new gated, secured, illuminated associate parking lot on the east side of Woodward Avenue
* A new physician parking lot
* Demolition of Fox Center
* Creation of a new ring road around the main hospital
* Pedestrian bridge over Woodward Avenue connecting the associate parking lot to the main hospital.
The South Patient Tower is expected to be completed in Fall 2013.
Founded in 1927 by the Sisters of Mercy, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland has won numerous local and national awards for patient safety, quality and performance, and consistently ranks in the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide. A member of the Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland is a technologically leading hospital that combines advanced medicine and personal care to assist patients on their path to wellness.
For more information about health services offered at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, please visit www.stjoesoakland.org.
Saint Joseph Mercy Health System (SJMHS) is a newly expanded health care organization serving southeast Michigan. Health coverage spans six counties, including Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne. It includes 537-bed St. Joseph Mercy in Ann Arbor, 443-bed St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac, 304-bed St. Mary Mercy in Livonia, 136-bed St. Joseph Mercy Livingston in Howell, 119-bed St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron, 113-bed Chelsea Community Hospital and 74-bed St. Joseph Mercy Saline. Combined, the seven hospitals are licensed for 1,726 beds, have five outpatient health centers, five urgent care facilities, more than 25 specialty centers; employ more than 14,000 individuals and have a medical staff of nearly 2,700 physicians.
A member of Trinity Health, the nation's fourth largest Catholic health care organization, SJMHS is committed to providing a remarkable patient experience by using leading edge technology in a comforting and healing environment. As a mission based organization, Saint Joseph Mercy Health System provides approximately $100 million in community benefit to the communities it serves each year.
