First Hospital in U.S. Built on a Community College Campus Opens

GERMANTOWN, Md. — The new Holy Cross Germantown Hospital is open on the Montgomery College campus in Germantown, Maryland.

Offering medical, surgical, obstetric and emergency services and psychiatric care, the 237,000-square-foot, 93-bed hospital is the first new hospital built in the state of Maryland in over 35 years. Additionally, as the foundation of Montgomery College’s Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park, the hospital is the first in the U.S. to be built on a community college campus, representing a partnership between the institutions to help train the next generation of nurses and healthcare workers.

The facility features a full-service emergency department with an adjacent observation unit; patient units for cancer care, dialysis and inpatient rehabilitation; a 15-bed ICU, two 30-bed inpatient units and a behavioral health unit. Surgical services across a broad range of specialties include full-service operating rooms, as well as procedure rooms for endoscopy and interventional radiology. Comprehensive maternity services are provided through labor and delivery rooms, cesarean surgical suites, private postpartum rooms and an eight-bed neonatal care unit.

The design of the hospital is a direct response to the evolving challenges of healthcare delivery. All of the hospital’s private patient rooms and staff zones were designed for operational efficiency, as well as for the comfort and independence of patients and their families. Large windows provide ample daylight in patient rooms, staff and public and decentralized nursing alcoves and visitor seating bays are located along the public concourses, simplifying wayfinding.

Applying Evidence-Based Design methods, the objective of design was to create a healing, patient-centered environment. Features include a healing garden, views of green, landscaped roofs and soothing interior finishes. The Holy Cross Germantown Hospital was constructed by Whiting-Turner Contracting Company. SmithGroupJJR provided architecture and interior design services. Syska Hennessy Group served as prime MEP engineer alongside sub consultant partner, Leach Wallace Associates, Inc. and CBRE Healthcare was the owner’s rep/project manager. A LEED Silver rating is targeted.