New Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital counting down to launch. Have a look inside
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- Medical teams use scripted scenarios to familiarize staff with new spaces and supplies.
- The $479-million level II pediatric trauma campus will open for patients on May 16.
- Staff will execute a coordinated "Code Move" to transfer patients and launch services.
Medical teams have been working intensely to make sure opening day of the new MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital goes smoothly in a “once in a generation launch,” according to hospital executive Ben Whitworth.
That process includes using infant-sized dolls dressed in hospital gowns for simulating post-operative procedures or other medical scenarios.
“There’s a little doll, and it could be in our recovery room after a surgery with the team that takes care of that kind of patient,” explained Whitworth, Mary Bridge’s chief operations officer, in a recent interview with The News Tribune.
“The recovery room nurse, the PACU nurse, as well as the anesthesiologists and the other team members that are present, they’ll have scripts and written scenarios, and they’ll read through their scenario.”
The scripted run-throughs are to help staff become familiar with new surroundings and supply/instrument locations in simulation training.
The new $479-million Level II pediatric trauma hospital campus with a six-story tower is set to replace the hospital’s current location at Tacoma General and open for patients May 16.
Recognition of financial donors making the new construction possible is ever-present. Nearly every room has a plaque denoting who sponsored it. The elevators, for example, were made possible with a donation from Frisko Freeze.
The final tally includes the cost of the hospital and clinic expansion and new parking garages.
“There are two new two garages, one for patients and families and visitors right there next to the hospital, and then another garage for staff and team members,” Whitworth said.
Improvements also were carried over to the Tacoma General side of the medical complex.
“The entire campus around these hospital buildings and properties is being updated with new big, large ‘monument signs’ to indicate now there’s adult emergency at Tacoma General and that there is children’s emergency at Mary Bridge Children’s,” he explained.
“It’s going to be a lot easier to find where you need to go,” he continued, because once you get to the Mary Bridge side of the campus, it’s one driveway in and right there it’s hospital, clinic, parking garage all in one fell swoop. That’ll be a lot easier for families to navigate.”
Opening day will be tricky, as the changeover to the new hospital occurs as staff starts to wind down the previous location and still care for their young patients in all phases of treatment.
The changeover is being referred to as “Code Move.”
“It’s pretty critical that we make the patient move and the hospital inpatient launch all in one sequential move,” Whitworth said. “We’re going to staff two areas. We’re going to open up the new emergency department for new patients that come in, and then we’re going to have patients in the existing emergency department who have to discharge. And then we have to open up the ICU so that if any patient comes in through the ER, they have a place to go. And then we’re going to be moving patients at the current ICU across the street. Same thing for the surgical floor, same thing for the certain the operating rooms.”
“The added benefit for our community is that for the spaces we vacate, Tacoma General will (utilize) within the next year for added capacity for adult patients,” he added.
Whitworth said the expansion is not a minute too soon, as Mary Bridge met its 2029 patient volume projections in 2024.
“We’re kind of maxed to the gills,” he noted.
The bright colors, playrooms and toys at the new site all now await the big day. From the logistics side, Whitworth explained how he saw his role in making it all come together.
“I’m not a physician, I’m not a nurse or a caregiver,” he said. “What brings me joy and what brings me purpose is to help create operations and space that allows our teams to perform at their best and allows our patients and families to have the best possible experience.
“And that’s a high standard.”
