For Jackson, Cano said the projects are part of Jackson’s Miracle-Building Bond Program, which is bonds they received from Miami Dade County in order to expand and fix up the existing facilities. "We’re doing several projects there, primarily with Jackson North Medical Center, expanding several of their departments, including the surgery department and the emergency department. We’re also working on an urgent care center for Jackson; we already completed one for them and we’re in the middle of doing the drawings for a second."

 

For Baptist, Cano said GS&P is also working on multiple projects, including freestanding emergency departments, which are stand-alone buildings that are considered to be an emergency department for the hospital, even though it is not in the same campus as the hospital. "We already have one under construction; two others that are going to start construction at any moment; and they’re planning to build a few more, so we’re designing all of those. We also completed the drawings for a large project that they’re doing in Broward County. It’s almost like a bed-less hospital – a facility that’s going to have all of the services, except beds."

 

Cano said GS&P’s Miami office focuses 100 percent on acute health care projects for hospitals or hospital systems. "In other words, we do not do doctors’ offices or clinics or dentists’ offices. We work within the hospital, or on outpatient buildings that are typically associated with hospitals, which include ambulatory surgery centers, cancer treatment centers, urgent care centers, freestanding EDs, etc."

 

A bold move – literally and figuratively – is what helped to bring these projects in the door. Cano said that when he joined GS&P in 2001, the firm had been located in Broward County; but in 2015 he moved the offices from Hollywood to Coral Gables, and shifted the focus toward Miami Dade County. "Since then, most of our clients are now Miami clients, and that strategic move really made a difference in our ability to gain more projects and gain more clients. By being in Coral Gables, we were able to get a lot of projects from the Jackson Health System, Baptist Health South Florida, the University of Miami’s UHealth System, and many other clients."

 

In addition to the move, some of GS&P’s success can be attributed to the types of clients Cano began to pursue. Previously, many of them had been smaller customers that just required some renovations. "But I started seeking different clients that had larger projects and we started winning a lot of those larger projects, which gives us not just volume, but a lot more stability as well. When you have little jobs, you find out about them today, you start them in two or three weeks, and you finish them in a few months. After three or four months, you don’t know what’s coming up, so it’s hard to grow. But when you win projects that last for two or three years, you have more stability because you know dollars are going to be coming in the door for the next two or three years, and that allows us to grow accordingly. Most of the clients we currently have, including some of the ones I mentioned before, are new clients that we did not have before I took over the offices. Our new client make-up is very different from what we previously had."

 

Cano said that because of the technology involved in health care, and the latest in medicine and medical care, "I don’t think the level of complexity is matched anywhere, in any other type of architecture. To me, working for health care facilities is extremely rewarding, because not a lot of architects can do what we do. As opposed to designing a new store, an office building, or a new condominium tower, we’re actually designing a facility that’s going to directly affect the health of people – not just in the medical treatment they’re receiving, but also in the atmosphere we create when we design that space, which will let the patients and their families feel a little bit more at ease.

 

"The bottom line is, we love what we do. Most of us here have been doing it for a long time, and we’re very fortunate that we’re in a market and a profession to really help others."