New building addition and facility improvements allow hospital to remain a leader in quality, state-of-the-art healthcare

BETHESDA, MD (Feb. 7, 2008) – Suburban Hospital today unveiled its plans for the first major upgrade and enhancement of its facilities and campus in nearly 30 years. The new campus design – which will be submitted later this month to Montgomery County for review and approval  – will allow Suburban to remain a leader in providing quality, state-of-the-art medical services to the community.

Suburban Hospital was built in 1943. The last major upgrade to its facilities was in 1979. The proposed improvements will be built on Suburban’s existing campus at 8600 Old Georgetown Road, across from its key clinical partner, the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Major features include improved access to the emergency/trauma center; more private patient rooms; larger operating rooms; onsite physician offices; and more parking. Details include: 

·        A new building addition consisting of approximately 300,000 square feet.  The building will house a new surgical wing, physician office space and private patient rooms and be four stories in height.

·        A new surgical wing containing 15 state-of-the-art operating rooms to replace existing operating rooms.  Each operating room measures approximately 700 square feet and is designed to accommodate important technological advancements, such as MRI-guided surgery.  All of the new operating rooms will be located on one floor, near the emergency/trauma center, allowing for greater efficiencies and better patient flow.

·        Improved vehicular and pedestrian circulation, including orientation of traffic to Old Georgetown Road.

·        Improved emergency and trauma access, including a new main entrance that will separate the pedestrian and private vehicle entrance from the helipad and emergency vehicle entrance.

·        A sustainable design that incorporates green building initiatives.

·        Separate elevators for patients and non-patients.

·        Replacement of the existing parking garage with a new 1,200-space parking garage to address the parking needs of the new building and the current parking shortage.

·        A high-quality landscape program to include an attractive array of gardens, greenways, trees and paths that will unify the campus and be enjoyed by residents, staff, and visitors alike.

·        Mechanical systems housed below grade to minimize noise and enhance aesthetics.

 “Our campus enhancement project assures that we will continue to be able to provide the same high level of patient care that our community has come to expect from Suburban Hospital,” said Brian Gragnolati, Suburban Hospital’s President and CEO. “Our patients deserve the best hospital facilities possible, and we are committed to providing them.” 

Hospital officials expect to break ground on the project in 2011, with a completion date estimated in 2013. The project will be paid for through a combination of cash reserves, operating income, tax-exempt debt financing, and private donations.

“Hospitals are an essential part of a community’s infrastructure, much like roads and schools,” said Barry K. Rogstad, Ph.D., Chairman of Suburban Hospital’s Board of Trustees.  “We feel an immense responsibility to continue to raise the bar for medical excellence in Montgomery County and to expand and modernize in order to meet the growing and increasingly complex medical needs of our patients for many years to come.”

       Hospital officials recently shared the new campus plans with residents of the surrounding neighborhood.  In addition, more than 24 meetings have occurred over the past two years in an effort to gather community input. In these discussions, Suburban Hospital has engaged both the greater community it serves, as well as its adjoining neighbors. It also launched a website, www.suburban2020.org, that provides updates to the community, patients, and staff about the enhancement plans.

As a result of the community input, Suburban Hospital has made numerous revisions to the original plan, eliminating a separate physician office building, reducing the height of the parking garage and consolidating the parking into one structure, reducing the height of the new patient-care building so that it is lower than Suburban’s existing building, and improving aesthetics with the use of green spaces in order to enhance compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood.

Through an overwhelming show of support, more than 5,000 Montgomery County residents have signed statements of support for the proposed enhancement project.

Suburban Hospital is a not-for-profit, community-owned hospital in Bethesda, Md., that has served Montgomery County and the surrounding area for close to 65 years. Suburban Hospital is distinguished by a certified Primary Stroke Center; state-designated level II trauma center; the NIH Heart Center at Suburban Hospital; and centers of excellence in orthopedics and joint replacement surgery, neurosciences, and oncology; state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment tools; and affiliations with world-class institutions, including the neighboring National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins Medicine.  

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EDITOR’S NOTE:     High-resolution drawings of the proposed campus enhancement are available upon request.