The Children’s Hospital Buildout — An Update With a Video
This week (November 4, 2019), we will take a look at the Children’s Hospital floors six through nine. All of floor five (under both the Adult Hospital tower and the Children’s Hospital tower), which is known as the San Manuel Maternity Pavilion sits on top of the podium (the base for both towers). We will take a look at the buildout (interior construction) as each of the floors expands room-by-room. The featured image for this post was taken from the Faculty Medical Offices Clinic at twilight. For those who are new to this site, the Children’s Hospital is the shortest tower, and the southernmost tower, which sits on the south side of the elevator tower, the tallest tower of the complex. The Children’s Hospital tower parallels Barton Road, which serves as the emergency entrance to both hospitals. Because of the slope of the grade, the emergency entrance appears to be on the ground floor, but in reality, it is the second floor as the north side of the complex is the ground floor of the podium. To review, the podium (the base) is four-stories tall. The first floor serves as the main entrance, which includes an adult lobby, a children’s lobby, registration, admitting, the dining room, and outpatient clinic services. The second floor serves as the emergency department, radiological and diagnostic imaging along with nuclear medicine, ultrasound, MRI, CT, and general x-ray. The third floor has been assigned to surgical services. The fourth floor is the Mechanical floor, which houses all of the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) equipment. These floors complete the podium from which the three towers (Children’s Hospital tower, Elevator tower, and Adult Hospital tower) rise.
The sixth floor has a 28-bed capacity (14-beds on the east and west wings). The seventh through the ninth floors have been designated for Med/Surge. Each of the floors has a 28-bed capacity (14-beds on each wing).
About the Video
The idea for a video occurred to me while walking around on the 7th-floor. After I began filming, it occurred to me that one battery wouldn’t be sufficient: So, conserving battery life became a must. Due to construction activity (including dust), I was unable to video some of the areas. The link to the video can be found at the end of this post.
For this field trip, I had to enter the sixth floor of the Children’s Hospital by way of the adult tower as the outside lift is connected to the Adult Hospital tower. By way of introduction, the Children’s Hospital and Adult Hospital Towers are connected to the elevator tower, which forms the core between the two towers. The elevator tower from floors 6 – 9 has a total of nine (9) elevators. The west side of the elevator tower is for Adults and has a total of four (4) elevators. Two (2) are adult service elevators and two (2) are adult patient elevators. On the east side of the elevator tower, there are five (5) elevators. Three (3) elevators are public elevators for children and family, and two (2), which has a separate lobby, are dedicated to children’s patient services.
I transitioned from the Adult tower to the children’s Hospital tower on the west side, which is the adult patient and service elevator side. Inside the 6th-floor elevator tower.Approaching the 6th-floor west wing double door frame.Facing the west wing shell, which is presently being used for storage and staging of supplies and equipment. A 180-degree turn further in the west wing faces the east wing. Since the east wing is also a shell used only to store materials and stage equipment, there was no reason to photograph that area.Rather than spending time in the east wing that was an empty shell, I decided to make my way up the stairs to the 7th-floor.As I headed toward the staircase, I couldn’t help but notice the pipes that were duly labeled. Even more interesting each of the pipes is mounted to the floor with shock absorbers to minimize rupture during seismic activity.The staircase that I took to the 7th-floor.
7th Floor
Upon exiting the 7th-floor stairway vestibule, I turned to my left and took a photo of the Children’s Hospital east elevator corridor and the elevator shafts (behind the mesh curtains) on the left. After taking a photo of the Children’s Hospital 7th-floor east wing elevator corridor, I crossed over the seismic expansion joint (covered by plywood in foreground) and into the east wing of the Children’s Hospital tower.Entering the east wing from the east side corridor. From this angle, the wing appears to be very narrow. In just a few steps, the wing will open up with patient rooms on both sides of the corridor. Nursing stations are positioned in front of the patient rooms on the left.The wing opens up. On the left nurse’s stations front the patient rooms all the way down the corridor. On the right are patient rooms.Halfway down the corridor the room positions and the nurse’s stations replicate the previous image.A typical patient’s rooms, which is private and has a private bathroom. All of the rooms have windows.A view of the patient’s room from the northeast corner.A view of the headwall from the southeast corner of the room.Upon exiting the east wing one comes to the core of the 7th-floor. Directly ahead is the child’s playroom, which is located on the southeast corner of the step out.The child’s playroom is a corner room that has floor to ceiling windows on the east and the south. On a clear day, the scenery is spectacular with the mountains to the east and the Loma Linda Hills to the south. Looking out of the child’s playroom past the east-west corridor and on into the children’s public elevator lobby.Exiting the child’s playroom into the 7th-floor core corridor with the east wing corridor on the right. Upper right is the elevator corridor. To the left is the west wing. Passing through the 7th-floor corridor and on into the west wing.Facing the end of the west wing corridor. The west wing is configured the same way as the east wing with the exception that the nurse’s stations are on the south side of the corridor rather than the north side. Three south-facing rooms from the entry of one of the north-facing rooms. The nurse’s stations front the rooms.From the end of the corridor window, one gets a “sliced” view of the south helipad.This image shows the seismic expansion joint (gap) that is currently covered with plywood. The Children’s Hospital tower rises out of the podium and stands alone meaning that it is not connected to the elevator tower.Adjacent but not connected: This image shows the exterior seismic expansion joint (gap). This gap, which will be hidden when completed, begins on the 6th floor and stops on the 10th floor. The reason for this space is that the Children’s Hospital tower, although adjacent to the elevator tower, rises out of the podium and stands alone. Connecting the Children’s Hospital tower to the elevator tower will seismic expansion joint covers designed to provide movement during seismic activity.On the east and west sides of the elevator tower, each floor has ten narrow floor-to-ceiling windows. In this image, we see a spectacular view of the San Bernardino mountain range to the east.
8th Floor
The east wing of the 8th-floor is mostly in the framing stage. The drywallers have begun to hang the drywall and the dust from sanding is hanging in the air.In one of the patient rooms, a headwall panel is being installed section by section.
9th Floor
Making my way down the central core east corridor to the east wing.The East Wing: Nurse’s stations and private patient rooms on the left with private patient rooms on the right of the corridor.
10th Floor — The Roof
The Children’s Hospital feature would not be complete unless we took a look at the roof. The glass facade conceals all of the HVAC equipment that is on the roof of the hospital tower. The east wing is featured in this photo. The roof of the west wing. Note the helipad on the current Children’s Hospital.
The Video
My Creed While Working on the Site:
In all circumstances — Blend in with the workers Remember that I have entered the worker’s domain Follow the rules When in doubt ask for permission Respect the worker’s time Look out for the worker’s safety as well as my own Don’t put anyone in danger Be aware of my surroundings Honor caution signs Listen to instructions Give proper respect and courtesies When appropriate, use humor Be Friendly Remember faces and names
As for the work product:
Because the majority of those on campus and around Loma Linda are not able to see beyond the security fences and into the glass towers, my goal is to tell a useful and engaging story. To do so, I keep in mind the five Ws (who; what; when; where; why; ) and the how. I welcome questions and suggestions. Enjoy!
After graduate school Dennis accepted a position at Loma Linda University. He worked there for 42 years in the areas of administration and financial management, also teaching accounting and management to dietetic students at the School of Public Health. Through the years Dennis has chronicled the growth of the campus, including the construction of the Drayson Center and the Centennial Complex and the razing of Gentry Gym. He is the author of "The Mound City Chronicles: A Pictorial History of Loma Linda University, A Health Sciences Institution 1905 - 2005." dEp 09.30.2016 🔨
