RMKM Architecture » Health Care

Guadalupe County Hospital

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:18:58 +0000

The Guadalupe County Hospital represents one of only two emergency care providers between Albuquerque, NM and Amarillo, TX (a 288 mile distance). The current Hospital was constructed by the county in 1956. It is a two story building which houses the hospital, a primary care clinic and the county public health office.

The new 35,000 sf Guadalupe County Hospital will include a general acute care hospital with a 10 bed inpatient unit, an emergency department, a medical office building for primary care, public health, and a pharmacy. The facility will allow the hospital to continue to provide emergency care as well as outpatient and inpatient services to the entire county. Aside from creating a more functional and safe facility, the new building sets out to: Create a home-like atmosphere where patients feel comfortable; foster a better partnership with the Department of Health; Establish a facility that better reflects its importance as a community space; Create a facility that maintains the culture and traditions of the people it serves; Allow public education to become a more central part of the hospital’s service

San Carlos Apache Rural Medical Center

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:07:37 +0000

The San Carlos Apache Reservation consists of 1.9 million acres and people from several different Apache bands. These factors make it the seventh largest reservation in the United States. The new medical center facility will serve this large population from its location approximately two miles east of the community of Peridot, Arizona. The Center will provide care tailored to the population it serves by adhering to the Indian Health Services (IHS) national model for the delivery of health care for Native American Communities.

The new medical center will be a 180,000 square foot freestanding building on a site whose concept and development are unique to the San Carlos Apache Tribe. The medical center will be modern, technologically advanced, culturally meaningful, and architecturally responsive to the healthcare needs of the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

Patient healthcare delivery will be multidisciplinary and will provide care similar to the Mayo Clinic model. Outpatient primary care registration, vitals, exam, and consultation follow-up scheduling will take place in the exam room. The specialty providers and general providers will come to the exam room minimizing patient movement.

Departments and services include: emergency medicine, imaging, laboratory, pharmacy, minor surgery, inpatient unit, labor and delivery, primary and specialty care, mental health, podiatry, physical therapy, optometry, dental, and community health.

Associated Architectural Firm: Dyron Murphy Architects

University of New Mexico Cancer Research and Treatment Center

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:41:49 +0000

The University of New Mexico’s Cancer Research and Treatment Center II (UNMCRTC) provides new state-of-the-art facilities for outpatient cancer treatment, cancer education, and cancer program administration. The project’s “patient first” concept and design solution are twofold:

First (pragmatically) the objective was to create a highly functional and technologically state-of-the-art facility that would promote efficient patient care and high staff performance. This concept drove the design of a five level facility comprised of simple and flexible floor plans that organize specialty clinics, treatment modalities, and team areas to optimize efficiency and promote the sharing of ideas toward the best patient care strategies.

Second (on a more emotional level), the vision was to create an inviting and uplifting-health spa/hospitality-like environment that would encourage wellness and hope in a language sensitive to New Mexico’s unique tri-cultural patient base. This concept drove the design of a network of public space (circulation and waiting areas) that engages the outdoors and connects patients and staff to the site’s unique nearby and distant surroundings. Catering to the concept of nature’s healing qualities. Outdoor spaces offer themselves for quiet contemplation / meditation or group gatherings. The penthouse of the facility is dedicated to chemotherapy patients, with full ‘window-wall’ glazing to the north that showcases spectacular views of the Sandia Mountains and surrounding environment. Patient areas (exam and treatment rooms) were designed to respond to the diversity of patients and their families. A design palate that emphasizes natural materials, abundant daylight, mountain views, and cultural references reinforces the concept and distances this facility from the stereotype of institutional healthcare.

Associated Architectural Firm: VOA Associates, Inc.

HEALTHPLEX at the Plains Regional Medical Center

admin — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:53:26 +0000

This new 15,000 s.f. Healthplex in Clovis, New Mexico houses rehabilitation and home health care / hospice functions. The plan is organized around a central corridor system that unites the nursing and home health departments with exam and treatment rooms, staff support areas, administration, the gymnasium and an outdoor ADL healing garden.

The flat and endless plains of eastern New Mexico and are temporarily interrupted by grain silos, warehouses and other agricultural features. It is here in this high desert oasis that a new architecture will redefine the future of healing in this quiet ranching and agricultural community.

San Juan Regional Medical Center – Cancer Treatment Center

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:22:40 +0000

The new SJRMC Cancer Center is located on the main San Juan Regional Medical Center campus. The new building houses radiation oncology, replacing an existing oncology building constructed more than twenty years ago. Design considerations for the building master plan and site included: future expansion room for radiation oncology (including a possible new connecting building) and two new medical office buildings on the campus. Patient services include: radiation oncology, complementary medicine, patient education and a gift shop. The building design was driven by the needs of the radiation oncology department and simulation equipment as well as the desire to create a comfortable healing environment for patients.

Plains Regional Medical Center – Physicians’ Office Building

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:03:23 +0000

This project is part of the new campus masterplan expansion for Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Clovis, NM. One of the main goals of locating the new Physicians Office Building on the hospital campus is its proximity to the main PRMC Hospital – which will greatly benefit the patients requiring more extensive testing and/or treatment. The large light-filled lobby space generates an open and inviting atmosphere.

The office space was designed in a flexible arrangement to accommodate a variety of potential health care tenants for outpatient use. Each tenant had different space and infrastructure needs but core facilities including teleconferencing, conference rooms, mechanical/electrical and data were all shared and designed-in to handle multiple configurations.

Presbyterian Medical Services – Carlsbad Clinic

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 22:06:15 +0000

Presbyterian Medical Services (PMS) provides a wide variety of health and education services in predominately rural areas of New Mexico. Their clients come from widely diverse cultures, including Native American and Hispanic. PMS serves all people in need, regardless of race, creed, ethnic origin, or ability to pay. Many of their programs are located in federally designated “Health Professional Shortage Areas.” Housing, sanitation, roads, and communications are often primitive, and families frequently have income levels well below the poverty line.

Rohde May Keller McNamara Architecture (RMKM) has designed a prototype medical clinic to be used as a model for all future PMS clinic development projects. Facilities based on the prototype have been completed throughout New Mexico. To date, clinics have been built in Carlsbad, Rio Rancho and Socorro.

The prototype plan allows for various programs to be added to a central core. The building core includes patient waiting, reception, registration, medical records, laboratory and pharmacy The primary programs that can be attached to the core include: primary care, mental health, and dental. The design easily accommodates various program sizes and allows for the expansion of each service.

Plains Regional Medical Center – Emergency Room Addition

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 14:25:24 +0000

The Plains Regional Medical Center – Emergency Room Renovation /Addition was one part of a series of projects RMKM completed for Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Clovis, NM to create a patient-centered healing complex. The new Emergency Room replaces a 1970s-era outdated facility with a state-of-the-art addition. It features 20 ER / critical care rooms arranged around a flexible central core featuring unobstructed views of each patient room. Each patients’ vital functions are tied into a new central secured computer system where they can be constantly monitored by minimal staff.

Additionally, a new comfortable ER waiting room was added with convenient access to Triage stations and private registration yet allowing complete security from patient rooms. The staff areas have been greatly expanded and enhanced with the addition of a new covered ambulance drop-off area with direct access to the main ER core.

Plains Regional Medical Center – Cancer Center

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 14:11:03 +0000

The Plains Regional Medical Center – Cancer Center is the very first facility of its kind in southeastern New Mexico. It serves the region with facilities for both chemotherapy and state-of-the-art radiation therapy. The chemotherapy treatment area consists of nine stations, all of which look directly out onto a beautifully landscaped “healing garden.” The garden is accessible from the chemotherapy bay and is open for patients’ use. The area is complete with a shade trellis structure, trees, benches, and a water element which has been proven to psychologically aid in the healing of cancer patients and their families.

The radiation therapy section of the center uses the latest and most powerful multi-leaf collimator Varian Linear Accelerator to treat cancer patients with low and high photon energy. Intensive architectural programming of the facility led to the placement of the vault/linear accelerator, spiral CT room, dosimeter’s office, and physicist’s room in close proximity to each other – an arrangement which has proven very effective for promoting smooth operation and clear internal communications.

A separate lounge and waiting area for patients and their families is closely located to this imaging area so that the comforts of family are never far away.

The Cancer Center features 12 infusion stations, a linear accelerator in a dedicated 3 foot-thick concrete vault, a CT scanner/simulator, treatment rooms, doctor and staff offices, consultation rooms, and administration areas.