Stanford Health Care marked a major milestone by opening the doors to the new Stanford Hospital on Sunday and safely transporting around 200 patients to the new facility across the skybridge that connects to the existing hospital at 300 Pasteur Drive.
More than 1,600 staff and faculty were involved in making the successful transition.
Patient transportation began at 9 a.m. The last patient arrived into the new building at 12:30 p.m.
“We’ve been looking forward to opening the doors to our new hospital, and I’m proud to share this stunning new facility with our patients,” said David Entwistle, Stanford Health Care president and CEO. “I am also grateful to our incredible employees who went above and beyond to make this a seamless transition for our patients.”
The move day started at 7 a.m. with the opening of the new emergency department at 1199 Welch Road, which serves adult and trauma patients. The existing emergency department at 900 Quarry Road Extension is now dedicated to pediatric patients, further increasing emergency services at the hospital.
“In a period of roughly three and a half hours, a team of more than sixteen hundred Stanford Health Care employees moved hundreds of adult patients from the existing hospital to the new Stanford Hospital. On average, one patient was moved into the new hospital every three to four minutes,” said Helen Wilmot, vice president of facilities services and planning. “This is an incredible logistical feat that required months of planning.”
The first patient to move into the new hospital was Paul Lee, 51, a transplant patient from Texas.
In the new building, Lee said he liked the large size of his private room, the comfortable furniture for his family when they visit, and the view outside his window. “This is one of the best hospitals that I’ve ever been in,” Lee said, “and I’ve been in lots of them.”
The opening of the new hospital was the culmination of more than a decade of planning and construction. The 824,000-square-foot, seven-story medical building features 368 private rooms and 20 state-of-the-art operating suites. It is the only Level 1 trauma center between San Francisco and San Jose, and its emergency department is more than double the size of the existing one.
“Welcoming the first patients to the new Stanford Hospital marks a major milestone in our precision health vision,” said Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine. “In this world-class health care facility, we will not only treat disease, we will predict, prevent and cure it — precisely. After a decade of planning and construction, I’m excited that the new hospital is open and ready to advance the health and wellness of our surrounding communities and people around the world.”
The existing hospital at 300 Pasteur Drive will remain in operation and will be renovated and converted to contain all private rooms, creating a cohesive, campus-like experience for all Stanford Health Care patients.
For more information about the new hospital, visit our press room at: www.stanfordhealthcares.com