Kaiser Opens Replacement Hospital in Redwood City
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A new replacement hospital at Kaiser Permanente’s Redwood City Medical Center is the third new hospital opened by the health care provider in Northern California in 2014 alone.
The seven-story, 280,000-square-foot building, which opened Dec. 16, sits adjacent to the building it replaced. The new facility was built to meet California’s seismic-safety standards that went into effect on Jan. 1. Under SB 1953 — enacted in 1994 following the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes — hospitals are required to remain operational after an earthquake. Some of the state’s hospitals have been granted extensions to meet the standards, but Kaiser’s work to meet requirements started in 2002 with major construction efforts in Northern California. In addition to Redwood City, Kaiser opened new facilities in Oakland during July 2014 and in San Leandro during June 2014 as a replacement for the Hayward hospital.
The new hospital in Redwood City features neuro-interventional radiology suites, neurological CT scans and neuro-interventional imaging suites, as well as dedicated neurological and orthopedic operating rooms.
“Our new Redwood City hospital is the culmination of a $2 billion commitment by Kaiser Permanente to our members and the communities we serve,” said Gregory A. Adams, group president and regional president of Northern California Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan Inc., in a statement “We are an industry leader in delivering high-quality, affordable health care, and as the third new facility we have opened this year, the Redwood City hospital reflects our commitment to providing exceptional, patient-centered care to our members in modern, up-to-date facilities.”
The new facility features private rooms with room service, Wi-Fi and pull out guest beds for family and friends. 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. Additionally, 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 way-finding board that helps members and visitors find people and destinations in the hospital.
“The new hospital at Redwood City and its fellow new hospitals in Oakland and San Leandro showcase the excellence in medical care that we provide in Kaiser Permanente,” said Robert Pearl, MD, executive director and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, in a statement. “Our superior quality outcomes and personalized service have allowed us to increase our membership in Northern California by more than 170,000 individuals this year and made us the model for health care for the future. The neurosurgical team in Redwood City is world class and their results exceptional. This state-of-the-art hospital will allow them to provide even more impressive care for the most complex problems that patients experience.”