Monday, April 6, 2009

Finally! Something to do!

I can't seem to find it on this blog, but I swear I've talked about this new project we just miraculously got.  Frontier County Hospital in Wyoming picked Design Associates to design the remodel of their surgery unit and to design a new ICU for them.  Bosley, the partner with whom I'll be working on this project, met with the top administrative staff of Frontier County Hospital (ever after on this blog known as FCH) a few days ago.  In the process of  working through the present state of their facility, FCH realized that they need a master plan for their facility for the next five years.  They need a proper master plan, not like the crazy MPs I've been doing lately.

A proper master plan of a medical facility--or of any facility, really--involves taking stock of what they have now and then listing what they need based on codes, facility guidelines, and their needs and utilization statistics.  Utilization statistics, as the name might suggest, are counts of how much different services are used at a medical facility, but they can also include stats on how much the nearby population uses your facility (and what ages and genders are in that population).  Let's say your facility only delivers one baby a month, but the population within a half hour's drive of your facility is about 30% women aged 18-34.  This means that you have potentially a lot more patients (and yes, customers) than you're treating.  Where are the rest of these gals going to have babies and get their pre- and post-natal care?  Or what if your facility delivers one baby a month but 45% of the nearby population is over the age of 55?  Then you need to start stepping up your orthopedics, physical therapy, and so on.

The best news is not just that we have something to do, but it's that I can get started ASAP this week.  I have to wrap up some stuff for the other master plan I'm working on, and I hope to get that done by end of Monday. One of the many difficulties I've experienced the past few months, like many folks out there I'm sure, is that I'm never quite sure what I'm working on week-to-week or even day-to-day.  Finally, I have something to do for at least the next few months, and I'm more than glad to do it, and do it well.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sweet! I'm psyched for you ... there have been ... murmurings of things *maybe* inching forward. This is one positive in the world of suck that architecture and construction has been lately. Go you!

St. Blogwen said...

Oh, joi joi joi, i haz a happee 4 u!