John Muir Health

On April 17th John Muir Health opened a new, $600 million addition to John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek. The Tom and Billie Long Patient Care Tower has been specially designed to continue to provide John Muir Health patients with high-quality patient care and safety, enhance the patient experience and help meet the community’s growing health care needs – now and for generations to come.

Key Areas of Expansion

Emergency; Trauma; Imaging; Surgery; Critical Care; Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; Postpartum; Orthopedics; Rehabilitation

Building Highlights

Patient Care Tower:

Six level, 380,000 square foot building

242 new beds (230 private patient rooms)

Patient Rooms and Privacy:

All new private, family-centered rooms with zones for patients, family members and staff

Outdoor views and maximum natural light

Separate elevator and corridor system for the public and patients to enhance patient privacy

Access to electronic medical records and in room charting for physicians and medical staff

Healing Environment:

The building has been designed to promote a soothing and healing, non-institutional environment for patients with less noise, six roof gardens, a circular courtyard, plenty of natural light and a variety of colors and textures. The project also includes environmentally-friendly elements such as a co-generation power plant, skylights, LED lighting, low VOC flooring and roof gardens.

Emergency Services:

Four large Trauma rooms

Emergency Treatment rooms doubled to 44 from 22

Imaging technology in the Emergency Department

Relocation of helipad to the tower rooftop

New elevator directly from the roof to the Emergency Department

Surgery Services:

Inpatient surgical suites will increase from 10 to 13

Surgical suites will have space for current and future technology, as will pre-operative and recovery areas

Critical Care Services:

24 new, larger, private critical care (ICU) rooms that can accommodate bedside technology

Rooms will be located near the departments from which critically ill patients are transported

Availability of round-the-clock, real-time audio and video monitoring of ICU patients

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit:

Increase from 22 to 35 infant beds

Combination of private and semi-private noise-reducing rooms for critically ill newborns, with sleep chairs for parents

Lighting to mimic day/night cycles

Architect: Ratcliff
Contractor: Clark Construction Company