On the second Saturday in October, U.S. 280 in Birmingham will be buzzing with activity, but it will have nothing to do with football traffic. Trinity Medical Center will be relocating approximately 150 patients, its staff and hospital operations to the new Grandview Medical Center on 280 with the help of local ambulance companies, state and local law enforcement. They hope to complete the move in 10 hours or less.
Trinity Chief Operating Officer Drew Mason says the move will start at approximately 6:00 a.m. and will be done in phases based on patient type and acuity. “We will start with our neonates, followed by mother/baby, critical care, psychiatric and finally general acute medical/surgical patients,” he says. “We will be continuously assessing activity at both locations and will have multiple routes with 30 to 40 ambulances. We will not take emergency services away from local municipalities. They will be covered as normal.”
Mason says the emergency management personnel who are assisting with the move will be able to use the event for future emergencies. “We will set up a command center at our current site and also at the future site. They will be participating in this relocation as a training event on how to respond to any sort of traumatic incident that could occur in our community in the future,” Mason says. “They will use our resources and procedures along with the structure and organization of the move as a learning experience and documentation of resource preparedness.”
Trinity Chief Executive Officer Keith Granger says they have not set a finish time for the move, because it will depend on circumstances of the day. “We want to keep patient safety paramount during that period of time, so if we finish at 5:00 p.m. that’s okay. If we finish at 3:00 p.m., that’s also okay,” he says. “We’re going to be methodical about this process. We will be going based on patient need and circumstance. Patient safety will be the priority, not the clock.”
While Trinity’s executive leadership will sponsor the move, all members of the hospital staff will play a role in the relocation plan. “There is no question the plan has to be broad and encompassing, but for the departments it has to be drilled down to the staff level,” Granger says. “Going into the new hospital, staff members must know their way around the building and know how to take care of patients with the new technology and equipment that will be in place at Grandview. We want their input into those plans and we want to make sure they have participated in the preparation. The more collaborative the plan, the greater the likelihood of success.”
For Granger, one of the most compelling things about the relocation will be having two institutions operating simultaneously. “Once we start the move, we must have our laboratory, radiology department, labor and delivery, operating rooms, security, and all other departments up and running at the new hospital,” he says. “Having those services duplicated at both facilities is almost unsustainable over a protracted period of time, so we need to get the move done as quickly as possible so we can reunite all of those resources.”
During the move, ambulance personnel will transport patient by patient, and they will make sure each patient is secured at the Grandview facility before returning to Trinity for another. “We will have a master list of patients at our current site, and that list will be duplicated at the new site. We will predetermine what room each patient goes to when they arrive at the new site,” Granger says. “For each patient, there will be a designated door, a designated ambulance, and a designated nurse. Before departing Trinity, each patient will be signed off by a physician. When they arrive at Grandview, they will go to a designated area where they will be unloaded and taken to their new room after being checked by a physician upon arrival.”
Plans are also under way to head off any potential traffic issues during the move. There will be a designated route for the ambulances with alternate routes available if needed. “Almost without exception, there will be an escort that will create a pathway, somewhat like police do on a football game day. Some traffic lights will be controlled to facilitate traffic movement,” Mason says. “We’ve had lots of discussions around traffic logistics, and we don’t anticipate our creating any sort of traffic hindrance with three to four transports every 15 minutes. The Alabama Department of Transportation will use traffic communication boards on Interstate 459 to inform drivers on move day, and we plan to educate the community prior to move day about what we are trying to accomplish on October 10th.”
Granger appreciates the participation and support they have received from the physicians, many of whom will be relocating to the new physician office building at Grandview Medical Center. “They will be an important part of our move, and we look forward to giving them a new home where they can practice for the rest of their careers,” he says. “They will have a shiny new building to complement the skills they offer to our community.”
Throughout the planning process, Granger says the hospital staff has made sure to dot all i’s and cross all t’s. “We have a great team of people working on the project, and we hope to avoid disruptions on the day of the move, but if something happens we will use our back-up mechanisms to take care of issues,” he says. “I expect to have a successful move, and I think the excitement about being a part of this and working in the new building is going to give us a good relocation weekend. We will look back fondly in years to come on how meaningful it was to be a part of something that rarely happens in one’s health care career.”
