New Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend Defines Healing Environment
Nestled in a sprawling tree grove on the scenic McKenzie River, Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend provides a multisensory healing experience like no other.
The eco-friendly, 1.2-million-square-foot medical center has served as a health and wellness destination for thousands of people since opening in Springfield in August 2008.
“Our goal was to create a regional medical center that blended the best of hospitality and health-care design to create a place that will promote healing and wellness and lift the spirits of patients, families and staff,” says Mel Pyne, chief executive officer of PeaceHealth Oregon Region.
The process began more than a decade ago, when administrators were faced with the challenges presented by Sacred Heart’s original Eugene campus.
From that discussion stemmed a true community initiative involving more than 1,200 neighbors, physicians, hospital staff and patients.
Today, a commitment to patients and the environment is evident from the moment visitors step onto the rich bamboo floors in Sacred Heart’s sun-drenched, two-story atrium. Tranquility flows throughout the medical center and into the 386 private patient rooms, where bold windows showcase acres of green space. In clinical areas, electronic medical records and digital imaging eliminate the use of unnecessary paper and chemicals. Outside, a chemical-free cooling water treatment system saves millions of gallons each year, and parking lots redirect runoff before it reaches the city’s storm water system. Atop the building, seven rooftop gardens welcome patients and also intercept storm water. Sacred Heart also has committed to planting 10 trees for every one removed during construction. They’re just a few of the ways hospital owner PeaceHealth is preserving and protecting its 181 spectacular acres.
Patients also benefit from technological advances at the new Sacred Heart campus. Visitors to the Oregon Heart & Vascular Institute now receive comprehensive care in one five-story “hospital within a hospital.” The new medical center also features 24 operating rooms, including three cardiovascular suites, with the capacity to expand to 28. And as one of the Northwest’s largest hospitals, Sacred Heart provides the only Level II trauma center in Lane County. Six miles away, the original Eugene campus, Sacred Heart Medical Center University District, continues its 70-year tradition of service as a 104-bed specialty hospital housing the Oregon Rehabilitation Center, Behavioral Health Services, Gamma Knife Center, a full-service emergency department and more.
