Completion of St. Lucie Medical Centers third floor renovations will have orthopedic patients feeling as though they are entering a whole new world. That new world will be St. Lucie Medical Centers new Orthopedic Institute. The hospitals 3rd floor shell is being transformed into a 35-bed Orthopedic Unit. The $22.4 million expansion will create a unit that looks more like an upscale hotel than a hospital wing. This strategy to create a hotel-like environment is catching on at other hospitals across the country. Many administrators realize that many orthopedic patients are healthy adults who will spend a short time recuperating following surgery. Adding this alternative inpatient environment can attract more patients to the facility to receive elective surgery.
The new wing will have all private rooms and patients can take advantage of such amenities as a plush lobby area, complete with a cappuccino coffee bar, internet access and comfortable seating arrangements. The idea is to give patients the feeling that they are relaxing not recuperating.
Artwork in patient rooms will cover up standard hospital equipment and stylish carpeting and furnishings will give the Institute an upscale, hotel-like atmosphere.
The hospital expansion also will include two more operating rooms and additional parking spaces. The new SLMC Orthopedic Institute should be ready for patients in Summer -2009.
