New State-of-the-Art Mills-Peninsula Medical Center Now Open

It was a historical moment – for some people, once in a lifetime – when the new 241-bed Mills-Peninsula Medical Center opened May 15. The $630-million, 450,000-square-foot hospital is located in Burlingame, Calif. Project architect was Anshen+Allen. Turner Construction served as general contractor.

Beginning at 7 a.m., 102 patients receiving care at the existing hospital were moved, one by one, to the adjacent, new hospital until all were comfortably relocated in their brand new rooms.

One patient was moved every three minutes until all patients had been safely transferred to the new hospital. Every patient was accompanied by a registered nurse and at least two movers, as well as necessary monitors, ventilators and other medical equipment. Patients were transferred by gurney 200 feet down a canopied, red-carpeted path, which protected privacy and comfort. The patient move was completed in about eight hours — smoothly, safely and ahead of schedule.

“After more than 12 years and thousands of hours of work by hundreds of people, we have accomplished our vision of a magnificent new hospital for our community,” said Mills-Peninsula Health Services Chief Executive Officer Bob Merwin. “I’m so proud of all of our staff for the calm and expert care they provided on this historic day. It was just incredible – smooth, efficient and compassionate attention for all those patients who made the short transfer trip from the old to new hospital.”

Key new hospital features include:

• Six-story (over one lower level), approximately 450,000-square foot general acute-care hospital including an unfinished floor for future expansion.
• Base isolation – advanced earthquake safety technology – allows the building to withstand an 8.5 quake and remain functional
• Electronic patient charting and Internet-based capabilities for advanced patient, physician, family communication
• State-of-the-art patient lift technology in every room for safety
• All private rooms – 241 beds
• No recycled air
• Total project cost= $630 million
• Emergency Department enlarged by 42 percent to accommodate 50,000 visits per year
• Family sleeping accommodations in all medical/surgical, obstetric, intensive care and neonatal intensive care rooms
• Patient meals cooked to order and delivered at requested times
• Four meditation and healing gardens and walking trails for patients, visitors, employees and neighbors

The new hospital is connected with an approximately 180,000-square foot office building with space for a new multi-specialty physician group, affiliated with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Two floors, or approximately 40 percent of the office building space, are for Mills-Peninsula administrative use.