E4H Achieves Project Milestones on UVMC Expansion

BURLINGTON, Vt. – University of Vermont Medical Center’s $187-million initiative has broken ground with a new inpatient bed building, named the Robert E. and Holly D. Miller Building, for two well-known area philanthropists. The project, approved in 2016 and slated for completion in 2019, will facilitate the medical center’s ability to ensure patient safety and quality of care, enhance the patient experience, and provide greater operational efficiencies.

E4H MorrisSwitzer Environments for Health designed the new building with the goal of enhancing quality, privacy and healing, while providing more room for families. Private rooms have been shown to be effective in preventing hospital-acquired infections, reducing patient’s requests for pain medication and improving patient satisfaction. The project is on target for LEED Silver certification, supporting UVM Health System’s commitment to sustainable design and construction.

Building features

• Four inpatient floors of 32 single-occupancy medical-surgical, telemetry capable rooms, for a total of 128 private rooms with private bathrooms, increasing the medical center’s single rooms from 40 percent to 90 percent.
• Each private patient room will have a medical/surgical telemetry bed and enhanced monitoring capability
• Enhanced in-room technology will cut down on patient transfers, assist with infection control, and vastly improve the patient experience by increasing privacy and reducing noise.
• Patient rooms will include space for supporting family members as well as ample natural light.

Construction manager for the University of Vermont Medical Center Expansion is Whiting-Turner.