Excuse me. Sorry to bother you. Can you tell me which way to Admitting?
Imagine you’re a patient coming to Richmond Hospital for one of our services. You have been instructed to come in the “Starbucks entrance”—the one clear landmark on your journey in our hospital—and, from there, to proceed to Main Admitting to check in. You enter through the main doors by Starbucks into a large, busy, noisy, area and have no idea where to go from there.
Now imagine that, as that person, you are already apprehensive about what to expect from your visit to the hospital, worried about being late and you don’t know how to find your way quickly and easily to the Admitting, Surgical Day Care or whatever service you need… and you don’t know where to look, who to ask or where to find the information.
Those of us who work in Richmond Hospital see this person on a fairly regular basis as we head to Starbucks for our morning coffee or move through the atrium. Many of us have stopped and asked if they needed help and then directed them or accompanied them to where they need to go. It’s a scene that repeats itself all too often for patients and visitors to our hospital, it’s a situation that should not be occurring, and it’s an experience that we need to address and improve.
Thanks to a major donation from the Milan and Maureen Ilich Foundation through Richmond Hospital Foundation, and existing funding to replace the rough exposed aggregate floor in the Atrium, we will be able to transform this space to one that creates a positive, welcoming experience for patients, families, visitors and staff, as well as improving way-finding and waiting rooms throughout the hospital. When the Atrium is reopened, the Westminster Health Centre will be renamed the Milan Ilich Pavilion in honour of over $10-million in cumulative giving by the Milan and Maureen Ilich Foundation to Richmond Hospital.
The focus of the Atrium Renewal will be to improve the function of the space by locating key services like information and registration, up-front and visible; improving the quality and safety of the physical environment; and improving the way-finding cues.
Give your feedback on the design
As we proceed with this project, we think it’s important to speak to those people who use the space – staff, physicians and volunteers, and the public. Over the next few weeks there will a number of opportunities to provide your feedback on the proposed concept drawing of the new Atrium space. We want to hear from a variety of perspectives so we have set-up a number of channels for feedback including:
- this article (please add your comments below),
- two Lunch and Learn sessions on March 12th in the hospital atrium: from 11:30 – 12:30 and 3:30 – 4:30,
- white board displays in the atrium and main cafeteria, and
- a meeting with Richmond Health Advisory Committee.
We’ll be issuing an RFP at the end of the month so we’re looking for feedback by March 22nd.
At this stage of the process we’re looking for your feedback on the proposed design concept related to the upcoming refresh of the artrium and wayfinding. We’re interested in both your experience as someone who works in the area as well what you think the patient, staff and visitor experience will be so we can ensure that the right services are included in the right places to achieve an overall positive experience.
Please consider the following questions when providing feedback on the proposed concept drawings:
- Do you have any general suggestions or observations about the proposed layout?
- Does it flow well for the movement of patients, staff and visitors?
- Does it improve function and access?
- How might it impact those who work in the area?
- How might it impact patients, families, visitors?
- Do you have any suggestions to make to make the proposed design even better?
Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on this project. We’re excited about the upcoming renewal of this key space as we know it will improve our patient’s and client’s experience and better reflect the quality of services we provide here at Richmond Hospital.
Jillian
The plans look great and I agree that the location on the Marketplace will cause congestion.
The main triangle of traffic will be between the patient info, admitting and the switchboard as people try to filter down to the other areas of the hospital . I hope that the signage and info will follow through to other departments on the man floor.
I have been helping many visitors/patients/off site staff find locations once they have passed the switchboard area as that is where they seem to get lost. There needs to be a legend in the main atrium showing the floor plan of at least the ground floor and the second floor that has the outpatient lab, cafeteria and passage that joins the north and south towers that in turn lead to ICU. Perhaps an info board located in the south entrance area would be an idea as visitors arrive from the parkade. This seems to be another area for confusion and there is not always a volunteer available in the area.
Will they be improving the small garden that opens to the outside from Starbucks? The picnic tables are old and not accessible to wheelchairs from the main entrance as the path there is small, muddy and uneven. Tables that have a space for a wheelchair would also be appreciated especially (fingers crossed) when we start getting nicer weather. Having this garden updated would also give more people an option to sit outside and keep the noise level down in the atrium.
Look forward to the changes.
Carolle Sauro
Thank you for your feedback. I will include all of the comments in my final report. Carolle
Claudia
I agree with the suggestion Chris made, making a better passage through the lobby for patients coming/going to Ambulatory Care……maybe relocate the ‘zen’ garden to outside, where the reindeer presently live….(the garden has been known to house little critters), so might be a better place for it outside….then some banquet seating around the lobby (padded seats as opposed to concrete), would be well received, I’m sure. Lots of people sit in that lobby.
I would love to see the rough, concrete lobby floor replaced. Very noisy when transporting equipment, and/or anything across the floor.
It will be a great day when the atrium is renovated…..!
Chris
When I worked at Richmond Hospital many years ago, I used to marvel that patients were wheeled through the central atrium… so many that the tree in the atrium was removed to make it a more efficient hallway. It seemed a very strange solution at the time.
These new plans look like a good effort to have the patients flow across the back of the atrium to the new transfer corridor, but I’m curious if any consideration was given to removing the zen garden/old foundation offices and pushing a new hallway through to help keep patients journey a little more private from the general public.
Maureen
Wow! This looks great – quite an improvement over the current layout . . . especially having the volunteers and Patient Info being front and centre as soon as people walk in and locating Admitting where people can see it quickly and easily.
My only two suggestions are:
I can’t wait to see the “refreshed” space. Thank you to the Milan and Maureen Ilich Foundation (and the Richmond Hospital Foundation) or making this possible!