Cancer center's flexible design helps to eliminate departmental silos

Community Health Network wanted to create a facility to meet the growing demand for cancer care in Central Indiana. Designed with input from patients, physicians and staff, the Community Cancer Center North, Indianapolis, provides convenient access to health care provided in a homelike setting.

The design for the three-story, 104,000-square-foot cancer center features elements that create a warm, contemporary design. The interior extends the spirit and year-round beauty found in the city's seasonal changes. Sleek, clean lines with nature-inspired materials create an environment of hope and healing.

The artwork chosen for the center also was inspired by the seasons and emphasizes community involvement. Throughout the interior, entrances to public spaces are highlighted by wood portals signifying destinations within the facility, while each floor is identified by a color to ease wayfinding.

“Community Cancer Center North provides convenient access to quality health care services,” says Wayne Barger, senior vice president, CallisonRTKL, he facility's design firm. “The center features design elements that create a homelike atmosphere and a warm, contemporary design in order to lift patients’ spirits and help them keep a positive state of mind.”

The distinction of infusion and clinic space as silo departments was eliminated, which provides flexibility by offering the option of converting private infusion bays back to exam space if necessary.

"Flexibility within the facility is an extremely important factor when building infusion centers today," says Sumeet Bhatia, M.D., hematology and oncology specialist at the cancer center.

Within infusion rooms, patients are given more control of their environment by creating moments of respite and an experience that helps patients and their loved ones to maintain as much of their daily routine as possible. This allows the cancer center to feel more like a home than a medical facility.

A garden, staff privacy rooms, quiet space, library/knowledge center, chapel, wellness facilities, day care affiliation, and areas for physical and music therapy all contribute to the positive environment. A boutique with fitting services for camisoles, wigs, headwear and breast forms/prosthesis/bras increase feelings of well-being and support.

The Community Cancer Center North is connected to Community Hospital North via a skybridge for access to additional resources.

Adult cancer diagnoses are treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, oral chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. A full-service radiation therapy department offers stereotactic radiotherapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy for targeted radiation treatment.

In other health care facility news:

• Bristol (Conn.) Hospital selected Rendina Healthcare Real Estate, Jupiter, Fla., to develop and manage a planned three-story, 60,000-square-foot ambulatory care center in downtown Bristol.

  The design will blend a retail and medical look with brick and a glass façade. It will leverage natural light and a welcoming atmosphere that includes a café in a two-story atrium. Rendina expects to break ground in late 2019.

  Bristol Hospital’s Multi-Specialty Group Inc. will occupy the facility, which will offer a range of services including endocrinology, rheumatology, urology, cardiology and a diabetic center.

• A groundbreaking recently was held to mark the start of construction on the Florida Hospital Waterman emergency department (ED) expansion and new patient tower in Tavares, Fla.

  The $70 million expansion and renovation project will add more than 111,000 square feet of patient care space to the hospital, including an expansion of the ED to 58 beds and a 24-bed women and children’s unit.

  The project will more than double the hospital’s ED capacity as well as expand women’s services and pediatrics to provide for future growth. The project is scheduled for completion in October 2019.

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