FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Mayor, Chu, Gridley Open Bellevue Critical Care Pavilion

DASNY Provided Bond Financing and Supervised Construction

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NEW YORK Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) President Dr. Benjamin Chu and Dormitory Authority Executive Director Maryanne Gridley today celebrated completion of the new Critical Care Pavilion at Bellevue Hospital Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Dormitory Authority provided bond financing and supervised construction of the $27 million project.

The new unit is one of the largest in the nation, with 40 intensive-care beds and 16 step-down beds for neurosurgery, cardiology, medicine, surgery, trauma and cardiothoracic surgery patients, all on the same floor. Step-down beds are used when patients improve from the more-serious ICU beds, but still need specialized attention.

The new pavilion marks a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to provide state-of-the-art therapeutic environments for patient care throughout New York City, Dr. Chu said. This new design brings together all critical care specialties on a single floor to ensure that seriously ill patients receive the best possible treatment.

New York Citys public hospitals are second to none in providing excellent trauma care, Mayor Bloomberg said. The cutting-edge technology and patient-care design available here will offer the best possible care for critically ill New Yorkers, and the best possible setting for them to get healthy and resume their lives.

Executive Director Gridley discussed the extensive renovations required to create this space. The 10th floor was gutted to the exterior walls and rebuilt. All the plumbing, heating, electrical and mechanical systems were improved, she said. There are many challenges in completing a major rehabilitation in an operating hospital including more than 100 building system shutdowns, a huge task made easier by the cooperation of the Bellevue staff. We thank them all for their patience during this project especially those right below us in the operating rooms and right above us in the labor and delivery suites.

The new pavilion is the first major installation in New York City of an overhead delivery system for critical care. Ms. Gridley explained, The latest in medical technology, the boom an overhead delivery system that facilitates administering of medicine and other treatments while attached to the wall and up off the floor will provide doctors with unrestricted access to a patient and flexibility in furniture placement. This system allows state-of-the-art services for IV, suction and electrical to be attached to the ceiling, and for the system to swivel 360 degrees as needed to allow ease of use and greater patient comfort.

The use of attractive materials and finishes shows a project that is both well designed for patient comfort and professionally executed in construction, Ms. Gridley added. In each corner of the floor is a large nursing care station, with computerized radiology imaging equipment, critical-care central-monitoring stations and patient-charting and information systems. There are 24 satellite nursing stations, one for every two patient rooms, with the patient-charting and information systems. Corridor walls are made of glass, with break-away doors to allow medical staff to always see and have access to the patient, Ms. Gridley said. The views of the City and the East River from patients beds are warm and invigorating.

Ms. Gridley thanked the Authoritys project team, which included Managing Director Douglas Van Vleck; HHC Program Director Robert Walsh; Chief Project Manager Nicholas DAmbrosio, Project Manager Siu-Wan Elsie Low, and field staff Orel Munoz and Eduardo James. She also acknowledged Fara Tabaei of Bellevue Hospital Center, Superintendent Ralph Dillon of Turner Construction, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architects, and Robin Guenther, principal architect at Guenther.

This is the first completed step in the major modernization of Bellevue, Ms. Gridley told the crowd of physicians, nurses and other staff at the ceremony. I am pleased that DASNY and HHC will continue its partnership at Bellevue. The next steps are the Ambulatory Care Center, the 16th and 17th floor critical care areas, and the infrastructure building systems upgrades. I look forward to seeing you again as we complete further milestones in improving your health care facilities for New Yorkers.

For more information, contact Press Officer Claudia Hutton at (518) 257 3382, or CHutton@dasny.org. To read the full text of Mayor Bloombergs press release, go to http://www.nyc.gov/ and click on Press Releases.

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