St. Onge Backs Up Perkins & Will And M+NLB To Win International Small Hospital, Big Idea Competition

YORK, PA, June 19, 2012 (Press-News.org) Architecture firm Perkins & Will and design firm Mazzetti Nash Lipsey Burch (M+NLB) tapped lean materials management consultants St. Onge to assist in the development of a new hospital design that won Kaiser Permanente's first-ever "Small Hospital, Big Idea" competition. The goal was to design a small, eco-conscious hospital that provided the best in emerging care delivery. St. Onge was asked to join the design team to provide lean materials management and support services consulting.

"Perkins & Will and M+NLB created a small hospital design which will define a new standard to improve the delivery of care and expected outcomes," said Sean O'Neill, St. Onge Healthcare Practice Leader and principal. "We were excited to have the opportunity to work with a world class team of P&W and M+NLB to develop a hospital design that maximizes the operational effectiveness of the support services, enabling clinical staff to focus on providing care to the patient."

The St. Onge team detailed the hospital support services demand and evaluated viable yet groundbreaking technologies that included integrated automatic guided vehicles (AGVs). The team defined the most effective processes, technologies and support services infrastructure from the dock through to the Point Of Care. This leveraged an innovative design integrating strategically located large pneumatic tube systems to contain and effectively transfer hazardous materials out of the hospital.

"As leaders in sustainable health-care design, we are thrilled to play a role in designing a medical facility that will serve as a benchmark for the future of health care," said Rick Hintz, principal at the Minneapolis office of Perkins & Will. "When you attempt to change how people think about a process, it helps to have key operational issues mapped out. St. Onge was instrumental in ensuring that our designs were not only groundbreaking, but effective in reducing demand for clinical staff, a critical resource. "

The planners of the winning design sought to create spaces to inspire human-to-human connection. Spatial elements of the design serve to improve communication and create a sense of community between patients and practitioners. It significantly reduces demand for all resources and minimizes the waste, with no greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and no harmful contaminants to the water cycle. The design incorporates nature into the patient experience by orienting rooms around a large central courtyard, building on research that shows a positive correlation between exposure to nature and healing.

St. Onge Co. is a leader in health-care lean materials management consulting and a world- recognized supply chain strategy and logistics consulting firm. Its discovery-driven approach brings together the elements of lean materials management, engineering and operations to ensure that a hospital's operation is highly effective.

For more information, visit http://www.stonge.com/healthcare.aspx.