Kaiser putting final touches on facility
By Brian Hamlin
Posted: 09/05/2009
Kaiser emergency room manager Catherine Hesse works in a pediatric treatment room at the new Vacaville hospital, which is set to open in October. (Rick Roach / The Reporter)
For Northern Solano County Kaiser Permanente patients, a half-billion-dollar dream is about to come true in Vacaville.
After four years of construction, the new Kaiser Permanente Medical Center is about to open off Vaca Valley Parkway. Unlike previous Kaiser facilities in Vacaville and Fairfield, the new center is a state-of-the-art hospital, complete with 24-hour emergency room and 64 beds for in-patient care.
Patients who live nearby will no longer have to travel to Vallejo's Kaiser Medical Center for emergency care or a hospital room that's close to home.
"We're not limited here. There's plenty of room for growth," said Dr. Jeffrey Gaboko as he strode down one of the wide, airy corridors of the new hospital. "And we love it."
The garden area can be viewed from private patient rooms and includes an outdoor dining area for the cafeteria. (Rick Roach / The Reporter)
The emergency department boasts 24 individual rooms designed to be both comfortable and efficient, with large windows that make it easy for medical staff to keep an eye on emergency patients.
For children, there's pediatric emergency room where physicians and nurses can consult a color-coded index which helps guide them in selecting care, instruments and supplies based on a child's weight and height. To make things easier, the bed itself has a built-in weight scale. There's even a child-sized "crash cart" for emergency resuscitation.
"And the beds also steer like a dream," Gaboko added.
The four-story, 340,000-square-foot medical center houses a broad range of radiological and advanced diagnostic equipment as well as some very basic, down-to-earth amenities designed to make life a little more pleasant for patients and staff alike.
Even the paint scheme is aimed at brightening spirits, according to Kaiser spokesman Jim Caroompas.
"There are 38 different colors used in the hospital, from warm earth tones to bright blues. We've found that it promotes healing," Caroompas said, adding that even the floor in the new hospital was designed with a bounce to it.
Much of the flooring, he explained, is made from an imported rubber material that contains no polyvinyl chloride, can be cleaned without harsh detergents and is completely recyclable.
It's also easy on the feet.
Light also is an important factor in patient health, Gaboko said.
All patient rooms have large windows to let in natural light and give patients a chance to see the sunshine, nearby gardens and the adjacent countryside.
"Bright light is a natural healer of patients," said Gaboko. "And here they can see the outdoors or look down into our garden instead of looking at a blank wall."
Many of the rooms also are family-friendly, with a pull-out bed for family members who want to stay close or sleep over while loved ones recover.
The new Kaiser Permanente Medical Center will host a public celebration from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 3 with live entertainment, tours, refreshments, hands-on health demonstrations and children's activities.
The medical center will open for business on Oct. 6.
The dining area of the cafeteria at the new Kaiser hospital in Vacaville is open and airy. (Rick Roach / The Reporter)
