Design keeps patients in mind

Workers built a mock hospital room in the parking garage to test every detail about the space where patients will spend most of their time at the new Cancer Research Hospital at the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

They wheeled a patient in, then faked a cardiac arrest to see how everything would work with doctors, nurses and family members crowded around.

Architects learned a few things during the drill — about design elements and also about flowers.

The hospital now under construction will be a hallmark for the Huntsman Cancer Institute when it opens next spring.

Built on three acres north of HCI above the University of Utah, the facility will be connected to HCI's research institute by two skybridges. It will offer inpatient care such as surgery and radiation, and the 276,000-square-foot building has been exquisitely designed with patient comfort in mind.

Hence, the mock patient room in the garage, HCI director Dr. Stephen Prescott says.

The cabinets turned out to be too low, and there were other minor problems, but the space had been so "cleverly designed," according to Prescott, there were virtually no flat surfaces.

"We all looked around, and there was no place to put flowers," he said. "And flowers are important to patients, so we made some changes."

Much progress has been made to the facility against the foothills since August 2001, when dignitaries including Vice President Dick Cheney, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints broke ground on the site.

Total price tag for the project is $100 million and the state issued $100 million in 20-year bonds to start construction of the project. The Huntsman Cancer Foundation will assume 60 percent of the debt repayment, with the other 40 percent from the U., which will use existing cash reserves and money it receives each year from the national tobacco settlement.

The building is up, and hospital director Ray Lynch is hiring staff.

"It really has been designed to affect the lives of patients and their families," Prescott said.

Traffic patterns in the hospital halls have been considered. Elevators, for example, are carefully designated so a sick patient will never be in the same elevator with a cleaning crew or members of the public.