The countdown has begun for Massachusetts General Hospital North Shore, the sprawling ambulatory care center at 102 Endicott St., which will open its doors to patients on June 1.
Earlier this week, the media was given a tour of the state-of-the-art medical facility, which overlooks the Waters River and occupies 122,000 square feet. A collaboration between North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), it includes 12 operating suites, a breast health center, a cardiology evaluation and diagnostic unit and advanced diagnostic imaging services such as PET, CT, MRI, X-ray and ultrasound.
Approximately 40 percent of the space will be occupied by the NSMC Cancer Center, which is relocating from Peabody, where it has been providing regional services since 1994. An adjacent 80,000-square-foot building will house the offices of 50 primary care physicians and specialists and will open later this summer. In addition to the nearly 200 physicians who have been credentialed by MGH to practice at the new center, the medical facility will employ a full-time staff of about 200.
"This is the largest free-standing ambulatory medical center in Massachusetts," said NSMC President Robert Norton, who answered questions during the media tour. According to Norton, the Danvers facility creates an environment in which doctors from MGH and NSMC can work side-by-side, giving patients the best of academic and community medicine. "Today, many procedures that once required hospitalization can be performed on an outpatient basis with less pain, smaller incisions and faster recovery times," said Dr. David F. Torchiana, chief executive officer and chairman of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization. "This new facility will make these outpatient procedures more accessible and available to people who live and work on the North Shore - including a growing population over the age of 60 - and will help us avoid more expensive hospital care both now and in the future."
Elena Sierra of Dedham, a registered nurse and the facility's new executive director, said the building architecture and its operating systems were designed in a user-friendly manner, with plenty of surface parking, security guards and greeters in the main lobby, staff to assist patients in wheelchairs, no waiting lines, electronic medical records, privacy rooms for gowned patients and large-screen TVs and other entertainment resources for those undergoing time-consuming chemotherapy.
Since there is no emergency room, patients awaiting care need not worry about being pushed to the rear of the line as trauma cases arrive. After their initial visit, cancer patients will also be issued an electronic ID card that can be swiped upon arrival to bypass registration. The cancer unit also features a research room where patients and family members can use the Internet and medical library.
"We're on budget and on time," said Denis Garriepy, the project manager, explaining that constructing a medical facility is more complicated than building a residential high-rise. "We have to integrate a lot of different systems, from electrical and IT to fire protection and the requirements on each floor are different because there are so many services going on. With a residential unit, you build the first floor, work out the bugs and then replicate the same plan over and over again until it's done."
Among the atypical architectural features is an underground concrete bunker, its walls six feet thick, to contain radiation from the linear accelerator. Steel doors to the subterranean rooms weigh 12,000 pounds each. The three-story medical building has tall ceilings and generous glass walls in the atrium that allow daylight to wash the spaces while offering natural vistas that include a healing garden named in honor of Norton's late mother, Eleanor Norton of Rhode Island, a victim of cancer. The NSMC president and his wife, Dianne Savastano, made a significant donation to the new facility's capital campaign.
Designed by the architectural firm Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott, the $84 million outpatient center was built by Walsh Brothers Construction. Work began in 2007 when the approximately 143,000 square feet of the Osram Sylvania building was demolished to make way for the medical facility. The remainder of the Osram Sylvania building has a longterm lease with Partners HealthCare, the corporate parent of MGH, Brigham and Women's Hospital and NSMC. Finishing touches are now being applied. The facility will host a reception this evening for 600 community leaders and donors.
"This is an exciting day for both NSMC and Mass. General," said Norton. The medical center will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. No emergency or overnight services will be provided. The property along the river is also home to the Endecott Pear Tree, the oldest living fruit tree in America, planted by John Endecott, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
