November 2007
Welcome to Medical
Staff Update, a quarterly e-newsletter designed to provide
the
Medical Staff with news and updates from St.
John’s Mercy Medical Center. We hope you will find these updates
useful in your practice.
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Update will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.
St.
John’s
Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital Opens in Chesterfield
On July 25, 2007, St. John’s Mercy welcomed its first patients
to a new Rehabilitation Hospital located in Chesterfield at 14561 N.
Outer Forty Road west of Timberlake Manor Parkway. The hospital is the
only freestanding rehabilitation care facility in St. Louis County. The
three-level, 112,000-square foot hospital features: a 50-bed inpatient
unit with the capability of expanding to 72 beds; comprehensive inpatient
and outpatient rehabilitation programs; a therapeutic pool; specially
equipped rooms for bariatric patients; recreational therapy programs
such as gardening and pet therapy; and apartments where family and patients
can practice tasks such as bathing and cooking to prepare for living
at home. For more information, visit the St. John’s Mercy Rehabilitation
Hospital web site.
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St. John’s Mercy Announces Children’s
Hospital Naming
St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis recently announced
the name, "St. John's Mercy Children's Hospital," for its comprehensive
pediatric services and specialties. St. John's Mercy Children's Hospital
is designated by the National Association of Children's Hospitals and
Related Institutions (NACHRI) as a children's "hospital-within-a-hospital," located
at the Medical Center. Children's services will be expanded with the
construction of St. John's Mercy's new nine-level, 315,000-square-foot
patient tower, which will contain 100 private rooms in the neonatal intensive
care unit and 72 private rooms for children who require hospitalization,
including an expanded pediatric intensive care unit. When the new patient
tower is completed in July 2010, the Medical Center will have roughly
88 percent private rooms.
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Ronald McDonald
House Charities to Build Freestanding House at St. John’s
Mercy
On July 31, 2007, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Metropolitan St.
Louis announced on Tuesday its intent to build a freestanding Ronald
McDonald House on the campus of the Medical Center. The new House will
be the fourth in St. Louis and the first in St. Louis County. The House
will serve as a “home away from home,” where families of
pediatric patients will receive comfort and support while remaining close
to their hospitalized children. This announcement is particularly rewarding
since the first Ronald McDonald Family Room in St. Louis was opened at
the Medical Center in 2005 on the seventh floor in Pediatrics. Ronald
McDonald House Charities is currently working to secure the necessary
permits and approvals to move forward with construction of the freestanding
House.
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Plans Unveiled
for Cardinals-Themed Children’s Cancer Center
On August 2, 2007, St. John’s Mercy held a press conference to
announce plans for a newly expanded Cardinals-themed Pediatric Cancer
and Hematology Center. The improvements will be funded by a $1 million
challenge gift led by St. Louis Cardinals minority owner David Pratt,
for whom the hospital’s David C. Pratt Cancer Center is named.
The Cardinals-themed children’s cancer center – which will
be 2,000 square feet larger than the hospital’s current facility – will
be designed with a look and feel reminiscent of the new Busch Stadium,
complete with murals depicting the ballpark’s distinct brick archways
and a baseball diamond outlined in the floor. The expansion will give
Dr. Robert Bergamini, founder of the center, and Dr. Rob Hanson the ability
to provide a unique healing environment for children to enjoy.
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New Medical Office Building to Open in Fenton
A new St. John’s Mercy Medical Office Building is opening in late
August/early September on Smizer Mill Road in Fenton. A full continuum
of family health care services will be available to South County residents,
including pediatric and family medicine physician offices, imaging services
and laboratory services.
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Medical Center Works to Cultivate a Total Healing Environment
Under the direction of Denny DeNarvaez, president and CEO, St. John’s
Mercy Medical Center is focusing on initiatives that enhance the environment
of healing for patients. A total healing environment is one that embraces
a deeper definition of healing and strives to achieve it in all its forms – physical,
psychological and spiritual. This means offering services to our patients
that complement and integrate with traditional medicine, such as message
therapy, healing touch, acupuncture, spiritual counseling and many others.
This combination of traditional and integrative services offers a broader
opportunity for patients to heal. A dedicated newsletter with information
on the total healing environment is available; to be added to the mailing
list, please e-mail Michele Gramelspacher in Public Relations at gramma@stlo.mercy.net.
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Construction Under Way on a New Patient Tower
St. John’s Mercy Medical Center has begun the next phase of its campus
renewal plan with the construction of a new $150 million, 252-bed patient tower.
The 315,000-square foot patient bed tower will be located on the space formerly
occupied by the Emergency Department and roughly half of the outdoor plaza. The
building will feature all private rooms and because other rooms on the campus
also will be converted to private rooms, there will not be a change in the number
of licensed beds (979). Once the all-private tower is complete, the Medical Center
will have roughly 88 percent private rooms. For patients, the benefits of a private
room are many, including faster healing times, increased personal privacy, lower
noise levels and better infection control. The tower will house several pediatric
services and there are several options being considered for retail services on
the lower levels.
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