MIAMI — The first in a series of major upgrades at Jackson Memorial Hospital officially opened on June 3, creating a new home for the world-class spinal program operated in partnership with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Comfort for patients and their loved ones was the defining principle for the 25 newly renovated rooms on the sixth floor of the West Wing tower, hospital officials said. The upgrades, which will be replicated in other Jackson units in the coming months and years, feature new beds and furniture, including sleeper sofas for visitors, as well as upgraded bathrooms, flat-screen televisions, and hotel-style safes for patients’ valuables.
“We believe that patients recover better when they and their loved ones are comfortable,” said Carlos A. Migoya, Jackson Health System president & CEO. “Moreover, these kinds of improvements are vital to make Jackson more attractive in South Florida’s increasingly competitive healthcare environment.”
COST-EFFECTIVENESS
At a cost of $1.1 million, the renovation project cost less than the $1.5 million budget, officials said, and was financed with Jackson’s operating revenues. The health system showed a surplus in fiscal 2011-12 for the first time in five years, they added, with the reinvestment in the hospital as one example of the way sustained financial performance will lead to better programs and services.
“This beautiful new unit is a product of our short-term success and a key to our long-term success,” said Darryl K. Sharpton, newly elected chairman of the Public Health Trust Board of Trustees, which oversees Jackson’s finances. “We were able to invest in our West Wing Tower because Jackson is finally making a little bit of money.
That’s how we build momentum to make lasting change. We earn a little bit of surplus, we reinvest it in a renovation like this, and that shows our community how serious Jackson is about competing for business.”
The facelift ensures that rooms on West Wing 6 have an appearance that lives up to the global reputation of Jackson’s spinal service, including patients of Barth Green, UM’s celebrated chairman of neurological surgery and founder of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
“Patients travel from across the country and around the world to receive care from UM/Jackson spinal surgeons,” Green said. “These upgrades help convey the excellence with which we treat every patient.”
CUTTING EDGE
Cutting-edge spinal services offered at Jackson range from minimally invasive procedures to the most complex open operations for spinal injuries, deformities and tumors. The hospital features the latest technology, such as computer-guided navigation, the O-arm intraoperative CT scanner, and spinal ultrasonography.
The 14-story West Wing tower at Jackson Memorial Hospital opened in 1976.
In addition to housing 348 patient rooms, the West Wing also has transplant and cardiac units and Jackson Memorial’s award winning stroke center.
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