WORCESTER—The latest expansion at the UMass Memorial Medical Center is called the North Pavilion, a 73,000 square-foot inpatient, acute-care facility with 72 hospital beds in private rooms. It is slated to open in January 2025 at the University Campus.
Justin Precourt, the interim president for UMMC, said the North Pavilion has been dubbed “a hospital of the future” because it intersects personal care with technology–featuring rooms equipped for telehealth visits, remote patient monitoring and in-room, real-time communication with patients and families.
UMMC is converting the former Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center into this newest wing. Precourt said the location was chosen because it is within 100 yards of the existing campus and has infrastructure within the building that can be renovated to accommodate patients.
“It is also more sustainable and cost effective to re-use and retrofit that space to meet demands,” Precourt said, noting it would be double the $125 million price to do otherwise.
At the time of its opening, the facility will have 13,600 square feet of additional space available for 24 more beds, six on each of the four floors, he said.
“Worcester County is short by about 300 beds in total, if you compare us with the rest of the state,” Precourt added. “The addition and some other units we have opened in the last couple of years bring us to about one-third to halfway, there [to bridge the gap].”
Across three campuses, the bed count will be 818.
In addition to serving inpatients, the North Pavilion boasts space for outpatient CT scans and ultrasounds. Although it will not have an emergency room or intensive care unit, 24/7 code teams will be available.
The goal of the expansion is to support caregivers in delivering high-quality patient care and creating an optimal healing space for patients, according to Precourt.
Toward that end, patient rooms will have pull-out sofas so that family members can stay with their loved ones 24/7 if they choose. The property is set amidst a quiet, wooded area and features a healing garden designed to take advantage of a creek on site.
The entrance will have automated and regular check in areas; artwork sourced from local artists; a communal space; café; floor to ceiling windows; and LED fireplaces.
The rooms feature automated beds to enable voice commands to turn lights and TVs on and off, adjust brightness and volume, close shades, make phone calls and more.
Nurses will be able to chart at bedside with in-room computers and specialists can be contacted and brought bedside through AV cameras. In addition, large flat-screen TVs with proprietary software allows for not only entertainment but also menus, dietary stipulations, medications, side effects, etc. to be accessed.
Electronic white boards in the rooms will list current care team members, estimated release dates, labs and other scheduled actions and other information in real time.
“We’re excited about the North Pavilion,” Precourt added. “It will better allow us to provide for patients in the community and give breathing room to better care.”
Approximately 450 jobs are expected to result from the new facility.
As a result of the North Pavilion project, UMass Memorial Health was also able to award $5M in grants through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Determination of Need program. In a press release, Dr. Eric Dickson, UMMH president and CEO said, “UMass Memorial Health’s mission as a safety net institution goes beyond providing exceptional care to patients within our hospitals to also addressing the social factors that influence the wellbeing of Central Massachusetts residents.”
He noted the funds highlight UMMH’s continued commitment to regional health equity through its Community Benefits Programs.
The local nonprofits to receive the funding to improve community health services in vulnerable areas are: Worcester RISE for Health; Catholic Charities Diocese of Worcester; Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts (SEACMA); Center of Health Impact; Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester; Regional Environmental Council (REC); South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC); Worcester Refugee Assistance Project; Worcester State Foundation; Central Mass Housing Alliance; Iglesia Cristiana de la Comunidad/Christian Community Church: Latin American Health Alliance (LAHA); The New England Center for Family Connection (CFFC); Boys & Girls Club of Worcester; Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Worcester County; Shrewsbury Youth and Family Services (SYFS); Trustees of Clark University; and YWCA of Central Massachusetts.
Susan Gonsalves is currently editor-in-chief of a mental health trade journal and a freelance writer/editor specializing in education, medical/health and business. She previously worked at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and has contributed to publications at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and College of the Holy Cross. At the Worcester Telegram, she covered the town of Leicester and wrote for Business Matters. She can be reached at smgedit@comcast.net
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