Broad feedback fuels hospital design

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Langlade Critical Access Hospital

Employees and patients played the roles of designers and planners during the preparation for the $47 million Langlade Hospital in Antigo.

The building and design team of Miron Construction Co. Inc. and Eppstein Uhen Architects Inc. asked the hospital’s 500 employees to photograph their work areas and then comment about what they liked and didn’t like.

Miron and Eppstein then compiled that feedback and used it as a starting point for designing what would be a 94,705-square-foot hospital.

Steve Tyink, Miron’s vice president of business innovation, said that information led to exhaustive research before nailing down the right design for the new hospital.

“We had 25 innovation teams that looked at every part of the hospital and how it was currently set up and what the ideal state would be,” he said. “We used multiple lean tools, such as value streams, spaghetti diagrams and modeling, to create that desired state.”

Using 3-D technology, the team created work areas on a computer screen and then prototyped them to solve any potential problems. That entire process took place before the first design was put to paper, Tyink said.

“We were designing for the future,” he said. “It’s not just about what the hospital is today, but what it will be in the years to come.

“We worked for a good seven months with focus groups and going through the prototypes before beginning the actual design work.”

Dave Schneider, the hospital’s executive director, said the design work took longer than is usual for such a project, but it was worth the time.

“Every innovative feature in the new facility reflects our intensive efforts to assure that the new Langlade Hospital is truly patient-centered,” he said.

That focus requires flexibility. Several departments can contract or expand as need dictates.

“Spaces that work well together, such as emergency and surgery,” Tyink said, “were also placed near each other to cut down on steps that employees need to take.”

Those steps extended to integrating up-to-date technology throughout the hospital and creating possibilities for upgrades to match the needs of patients and employees.

“As the average patient becomes more comfortable with technology, such as apps, I can see those being used a lot more, such as in the registration process,” Tyink said. “This wasn’t just about building a new building. It was about creating new processes that lead to providing the best care possible for patients.”

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