Miami Beach hospital designed for resiliency

Mount Sinai Medical Center, the largest private, independent, not-for-profit teaching hospital in South Florida, opened the new seven-story Skolnick Surgical Tower and 34,000-square-foot Hildebrandt Emergency Center on its main campus earlier this month.

The $275 million construction project combines highly advanced diagnostic technologies and treatments with a tranquil and healing environment, designed to enhance the patient, caregiver and visitor experience.

The Skolnick Surgical Tower houses 12 integrated operating rooms (OR) with technology that promotes personalization for both patients and surgeons. Communication systems within each OR allows for seamless communication with the control booth, pathology room and between the ORs themselves. The system can even broadcast audio and video to other locations, including internationally. The tower also includes a two-story atrium, public courtyard, and 154 private patient rooms each with a bay view.

“Every aspect of this project has been strategically designed for patients’ physical and emotional care,” says Chairman of the Board of Trustees Mark Hildebrandt. “From the architecture to the technology, Mount Sinai is hard-wiring patient-centric care.”

The Hildebrandt Emergency Center contains 50 treatment rooms plus six designated behavioral health rooms for psychiatric and psychological evaluations. The emergency center includes two ultrasound machines for rapid imaging with minimal wait times and an in-house 128 slice CT scan. The emergency center will operate 24/7.

The new facility was built with the growing needs of the community in mind – more than one in four residents of Miami Beach do not have health insurance, and an aging population increases the need for emergency care. The spacious new facility can accommodate 75,000 patient visits per year.

“Serving the community has been and continues to be the core of Mount Sinai’s mission for over 70 years,” Hildebrandt says. “Mount Sinai understands that as the only emergency facility in Miami Beach, it is important to serve all residents and visitors, regardless of their ability to pay.”

The facility is also equipped with enhanced mobile telemetry to continuously track patient activity in real time. Nurses can see any changes in a patient’s physiological status, and if a patient is on fall precaution, nurses are notified immediately via their smartphone. A central control room scans daily scheduling, operating room views, and analyzes turnover rates.

Mount Sinai’s newest buildings and existing facilities are designed to deliver high-quality care even in the most severe South Florida weather. The Skolnick Surgical Tower is built with mechanical, electrical and plumbing safely stored on the third floor, protected from strong winds and flooding. In partnership with the City of Miami Beach, Mount Sinai is now housing the City of Miami Beach Emergency Command Center on the second floor of the Hildebrandt Emergency Center.

Both facilities are armored with hurricane-resistant windows and roofs, reinforced walls, and generators capable of powering the entire campus for over a week. Creating a medical center that is resilient to protect patients, employees and visitors in any man-made or natural disaster is a priority for Mount Sinai.

“Mount Sinai aims to provide high-quality medical care to all patients, and the completion of this project symbolizes our unwavering commitment to serving our community for generations to come,” says Steven D. Sonenreich, president and CEO at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

CannonDesign was the architect on the project, leading the overall design and resilient features. Robins & Morton served as construction manager.