Kaiser Permanente’s New Redwood City Hospital Meets State Seismic-Safety Standards

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Kaiser Permanente recently opened a new replacement hospital at its Redwood City Medical Center in Redwood City, California, concluding an unprecedented period of growth. This is the third new Kaiser Permanente hospital opened in Northern California in 2014.

The seven-floor, 280,000-square foot structure at the corner of Veterans Boulevard and Walnut Street is adjacent to the building it replaces. It meets the state’s new and stricter seismic-safety standards that went into effect on Jan. 1. Redwood City is a regional center for Kaiser Permanente’s advanced neurological care and surgery, and the new hospital features neuro-interventional radiology suites, neurological CT scans and neuro-interventional imaging suites and dedicated neurological and orthopedic operating rooms.

The new facility features private rooms with room service, Wi-Fi and pull-out guest beds so family and friends can stay close to hospitalized loved ones overnight. Throughout the hospital, patient rooms feature the “Get Well Network,” an interactive electronic patient care board connected to a 42-inch plasma screen. Patients can view television programs, movies and patient-education videos; they can find the names of doctors and nurses, receive email and read a care schedule that covers their hospital stay and follow-up care once they are released. The hospital also features an electronic wayfinding board that helps members and visitors find people and destinations in the hospital, in English and Spanish.

Kaiser Permanente began large-scale facilities work in 2002-03 with the debut of a major hospital construction effort in Northern California. The main thrust of the program was to create or enhance facilities to embrace new technologies and other advanced features of modern healthcare.

A large component of that work involved seismic upgrades to meet newer, more stringent requirements enacted by the state after the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes. Many existing facilities were retrofitted to meet the higher standards, and three were replaced entirely. In addition to Redwood City, they were Oakland (opened in July 2014) and San Leandro (opened in June 2014 as a replacement for the Hayward hospital).

HOK developed the master plan for Kaiser Permanente’s Redwood City Medical Center and designed the first-phase hospital replacement project. The general contractor was Rudolph & Sletten.

To view additional photos, visit: http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/facilities/region/redwoodcity/area_master/about_us/photo_gallery.jsp.

Photos courtesy of PRNewsFoto/Kaiser Permanente.