High-tech hospital

Workers have painted the walls, hung the doors and stretched 10 miles of special computer cable through new operating rooms as Sacred Heart Medical Center prepares to open its new surgery unit in late August. It’s all part of the hospital’s ambitious expansion project. Two years ago Sacred Heart began building what’s called the west tower — a $137 million addition at Eighth Avenue and McClellan Street that will offer Spokane one of the largest and most modern surgery centers in the region. During a sneak preview of the operating rooms Wednesday, surgery director Marilyn Bash said the new technologies will lead to quicker, less invasive surgeries, speedier recoveries and shorter hospital stays. “This puts us out front for the next 10 to 15 years,” she said. The 20 new operating rooms integrate information and tools for the surgeons on a computer-based system. While patients may appreciate more efficient operations, the hospital figures to boost the number of surgeries from about 13,000 a year to more than 17,600. The surgery center provides a significant upgrade for Sacred Heart. The current operating rooms were built in 1971. Although upgraded over the years, the operating rooms are considered cramped and inefficient by today’s standards, Bash said. There will be no cords or tubes on the floor of the new 625-square-foot operating rooms, cutting the risk of accidents that can damage equipment. Instead, the monitors, cameras and other equipment are attached to mechanical arms suspended from the ceiling. This allows the surgeons performing endoscopic procedures to move flat-panel monitors where they need them, rather than looking up and down at a monitor sitting on a cart. In an endoscopy, the surgeon guides a flexible tube containing a tiny video camera down the throat and the relevant organs can be viewed on the monitors. Tony Epifane, representing equipment maker Storz, said the new technology is designed to give patients shorter and safer stays at the hospital. “It’s all designed around bettering their experience, their quality of life,” he said. Storz specializes in integrated surgery systems, which give surgical teams the ability to access information at the touch of a button without leaving the operating table. While Sacred Heart’s surgery center opens in late August, work continues on the other units in the tower. A women’s health center, for example, will include a birthing unit, maternity clinic, and other programs. A neonatal intensive care unit will expand to offer more beds to treat high-risk, premature babies. The six-floor, 316,794-square-foot west tower expansion is Sacred Heart’s largest addition in more than 30 years, and is further evidence that the health care sector of Spokane’s economy is promising. The hospital employs about 3,200 people and ranks among the largest health care facilities in the state.