Messages from the Executive Vice President

June 29, 2011

Master Plan for Hospital Construction and Renovation Projects

As you know, Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s recently approved Bioscience Connecticut initiative calls for the completion of previously approved plans to renovate the existing John Dempsey Hospital and construct a new patient care tower on our campus. It also expands the original plan with the addition of renovations to the “L” building, the construction of a new Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) on the lower campus, and increases in the School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine class sizes.

Bioscience Connecticut builds upon planning efforts that started last year for the hospital construction and renovation projects. We are pleased to report that the UConn Health Center’s team, led by a dedicated Steering Committee, has made great progress in these efforts. A Master Plan for the hospital projects was completed this spring, reflecting input from a series of meetings and visioning sessions with UConn Health Center faculty and staff, and work has now started on the schematic design of the hospital construction and renovation projects.

Completion of the schematic design is expected to take several months – including an intensive series of meetings on our campus this week – and will involve close collaboration between the Steering Committee, Building Committee, clinical staff, and a team of architects, interior designers, structural engineers and planners with SBA/HKS Architects.

Elements of the Master Plan
The Master Plan recommends that the new tower be located to the north of the H (hospital) building, replacing the existing parking plaza. This recommendation was reached after carefully weighing a series of options against factors such as connectivity to the existing tower; access to parking; way finding; safety; future flexibility and more.

The Master Plan calls for the following elements in the new tower:

• 169 new private patient rooms for services including the ICU, Step Down Unit, Hematology/Oncology, Orthopaedics and Medical/Surgical services
• A new emergency department with 37 private rooms
• New 12 OR suite (includes two hybrid ORs)
• New lobby with amenities
• New inpatient dialysis
• New in-patient rehabilitation center
• Two new parking garages for the new tower with a total of 800 parking spaces. In addition, the new ACC will also have a new garage with 1,000 spaces

With regard to renovations for the existing John Dempsey Hospital, the Master Plan includes the following recommendations:

• Upgrades to the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center and interventional suites
• Upgrades to clinical laboratories which will relocate and expand to space vacated by the ORs
• Relocation and expansion of Pharmacy
• Expansion of outpatient services within the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center

Under the new Bioscience Connecticut plan, a medical education floor to accommodate growth in the Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine, and a clinical support floor, will be added to the new tower. In addition, the dental clinics will move into the new ACC.

Also, all vacated floors within John Dempsey Hospital will be used for other purposes, including new space for clinical trials and patient and staff education areas. The Master Plan will soon be updated to include these changes and a PDF will be shared with the UConn Health Center community.

As work begins on the schematic design, the Steering Committee has established several subcommittees to provide oversight and guidance on issues related to the construction projects including a Building Committee, Operations Transition, Marketing and Communications and a committee charged with oversight of the new ACC.

More information on this project will be shared in the weeks to come.

Thank you,

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.
Vice President for Health Affairs
Dean, UConn School of Medicine

Steering Committee
Hospital Construction and Renovation Projects