Groundbreaking Ceremony: Jupiter Medical Center – Surgical Institute

The Jupiter Medical Center Foundation hosted a groundbreaking ceremony with hospital and city officials, donors, its design and construction team and guests on Tuesday, April 5, to signify the official start of construction on the new 90,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Surgical Institute in Jupiter, Fla.

Designed to allow the existing surgical department to remain fully operational throughout the project, this new, two-story Surgical Institute is sized for 16 leading-edge “smart” operating rooms and two hybrid ORs. Planned to encourage growth and emerging surgical care innovations, the facility will also house a more than 5,000-square-foot sterilization department. The smart operating rooms have been designed to accommodate a variety of surgeries, while the two hybrid rooms can transition from a minimally invasive surgery to an open procedure.

Development of the Surgical Institute is in direct response to Jupiter Medical Center’s explosive growth and patient volumes in both traditional and minimally invasive surgical procedures, with more than 15,000 performed annually.

Existing surgical services must maintain 100% capacity during design and construction. The phased approach will build all new surgical spaces and clinical functions in a single phase, allowing the facility to increase capacity as quickly as possible while remaining fully operational. Once the new Surgical Institute is complete, existing surgery spaces will house back-of-house and support functions that can be renovated/expanded in-place, as opposed to building new, more expensive square footage.

The contemporary design, which includes a large entry canopy with outdoor waiting areas, both complements and enhances the existing campus. Elevators directly connect the main lobby to the surgical waiting room and waiting areas, which are designed to include more intimate spaces, access to outdoor areas and other amenities, and encourage improved patient and family experiences. Patient prep rooms support added privacy and recovery areas allow vulnerable patients immediate access to a dedicated discharge point with covered parking on the ground floor. Dedicated parking at patient discharge also improves traffic flow and reduces congestion at the main entry. An underutilized building was demolished to provide additional adjacent surface parking for patients and staff, as opposed to constructing a new, more costly parking structure.

Our project teaming partners include Robins & Morton as general contractor; Structural Design Group (structural engineer); Kimley-Horn & Associates (Civil Engineering); Cotleur & Hearing, Inc. (Landscape Architect); Johnson, Levinson, Ragan, Davila, Inc. (MEP). Additional team members include Andrew Carroll Collignon, DBA; Fire Protection Associates, Inc.; and Christopher D. Fielden, DBA.

Jupiter Medical Center - Surgical Institute - rendering