The Teck Acute Care Centre - BC Women and Children’s Hospital

The children of British Columbia now have an innovative, state-of-the-art hospital to complement the outstanding care BC Children's Hospital has long been known for. The Teck Acute Care Centre is, literally, built to heal. Patients' and their families' entire journey-of body, mind and spirit-has been planned and designed in extraordinary detail.

It is said that it takes a village to raise a child; in this case, the entire province was onboard. With strong support from the Government of British Columbia and the Provincial Health Services Authority, BC Children's Hospital Foundation undertook the largest hospital campaign in Canadian history to raise $200 million. The community responded and more than 80,000 British Columbians pledged their support.

We at the COI and Herman Miller team are honoured to have worked on this project. We sat down with some of the team members Jane Corrigan and Lindsey Dru, to learn more about this project. Here is what they have to say about some of the key highlights!

What was the goal presented to you by the BC Children’s Foundation?

"The hospital’s goal was to build a world class facility for British Columbia’s children and families. The design of the space used artwork, natural light, playful images, and colour to create thoughtful spaces for play and respite to enable children a place to heal and places for their families to stay with them through this journey. Patient rooms are all private with state of the art equipment. The furniture in the patient rooms needed to reflect this and support the patient, family, and clinical team in all aspects of the child’s care. Our goal was to partner with the health authority to determine the best solutions for all of these spaces. " JC

How did you make their vision and needs come to fruition, and what did you do along the way to make it such a success?

"COI provided detailed specification information round the operational / aesthetic / safety / infection control and performance requirements for all of the proposed furniture. We provided a number of furniture options for the teams to evaluate. It was through hundreds of hours of user-group meetings, patient meetings, and collaboration with all consultant teams that this came together." JC

"We acted as the furniture/equipment consultant from March 2015 to July 2017. We ran numerous furniture fairs to engage the project teams from all areas of the hospital (NICU, PICU, ED, Maternity, etc.) and also engaged with families whose children had spent long periods of time at CWH. Our design team developed all of the room layouts and 3D’s throughout the hospital and met with the clinical teams for their approval. We had numerous meetings with some of the special teams (Medical Imaging) to determine appropriate solutions. We also engaged in a number of meetings around the aesthetic and colour concepts for the hospital with the lead architect in order to determine all of the finishes and vinyl upholstery for the furniture. The furniture was then ordered and installed in 2 phases allowing for smoother operations and a seamless process. Our team developed a unique and highly operational system for each furniture item in each floor of the hospital and our design lead developed installation drawings to match. Our project management team developed an in-depth schedule for the installation and was on site to review the installation and develop our deficiency list. This was an $8M furniture order with zero errors. That is a feat in itself." LD

What are some of the Key Products used?

"This was not about furniture, it was about creating an experience. As the interior outfitter of systems, casework, furniture, and carts – COI took on the understanding of using interior components to create adaptable spaces, help move and manage materials, work with tight construction timelines, and create environments that will perform." LD

"A few of the key spaces are: Patient Rooms, Nurse care stations, Diagnostic + Imaging, Welcome + Waiting, Children’s play areas, Operating Theatres, Pharmacy, Med Rooms, and more. Nemschoff played a large role in our solutions for the patient rooms and staff respite spaces with beautiful recliners and sleeper units. Herman Miller products were throughout the hospital with Canvas and Ethospace workstations and the Sayl chair and Sayl Stool. Our key vendor partners were Nemschoff, KI Furniture, Stance Healthcare, Spec Furniture, Arcadia, and Keebee." JC

To learn more about the world-class project and the community that made it happen please visit: https://www.bcchf.ca/TeckACC/

Photography by Ed White http://ewp.ca/

Other content provided by https://www.bcchf.ca/TeckACC/