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Posted on Mon, Oct 10, 2011 : 5:57 a.m.

Mobilizing Mott: 5 years to build, 12 hours to move new U-M hospital

By Juliana Keeping

The University of Michigan Health System’s new children and women’s hospital took five years to build.

It’s expected to take just 12 hours to start anew in the $754 million, 1.1-million square-foot C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital on Nov. 13.

The move is planned for 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day, said Scott Marquette an administrative specialist working to plan the logistics behind the move.

Marquette said a 24-member patient move steering committee has met for the past year and a half to plan and hash out logistics of the half-day move. The committee includes volunteers, nurses, doctors, administrators and the family members of those at the hospital. Its aim has been to address any and all needs that could arise on move-in day, he said.

Around 200 to 250 patients, the sickest among them who are receiving care in the pediatric intensive care unit, will have to physically move from the Mott built in 1969 about 800 feet, down an indoor pathway, into the new building.

Barricades will be put up on the pathway, and windows blocked off, to protect patient privacy. The pathway will be stocked with staff and supplies in case any emergency arises.

Each ICU patient will have his or her own team of doctors and nurses during the transport akin to what they might receive on a Survival Flight transport, Marquette said; patients receiving general care at the hospital will have one team for every two patients.

The hospital has doubled up on most of its standard supplies so that both old and new Mott hospitals will be fully stocked and operational on Nov. 13, Marquette said.

That means the full hospital staff will need to be available for the weekend to accommodate the “all hands on deck” move, Marquette said.

The first of nine units to open in the new hospital will be the new children’s emergency department, Marquette said.

Other units opening up in the 12-story inpatient and nine-story outpatient wings include: Four general care units, a newborn intensive care unit (NICU), child and adolescent intensive care unit (PICU) and a cardiac intensive care unit (PCTU).

A 32-bed adult bone marrow transplant unit also is moving to the new Mott, and the hospital’s Michigan Congenital Heart Center will occupy its own floor.

Birthing centers at both hospitals will be fully functioning on Nov. 13, Marquette said, to ease the transition.

Juliana Keeping covers general assignment and health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter

Comments

Ignatz

Mon, Oct 10, 2011 : 11:36 a.m.

The U can make the move with no problems. I was at "Old Main" when we moved into the new building. They alloted 8 hours and were done in 4. It was one of the best managed things I've ever seen.