The Project
Southcoast Health’s St. Luke’s Hospital sought to create a unique patient care unit that would provide families with more privacy when caring for their child who required continuing inpatient care after birth. This unit offers Southcoast the opportunity to enhance patient and family care, while also attracting patients. Ultimately, the child is the biggest beneficiary of this unique design. The individual rooms for the child create a special connection between caregiver and patient, while the shared care model for mother and baby when both remained in inpatient care after birth creates a consolidation of care that studies have shown is beneficial to both mother and child. Additionally, the Private Bassinet Room model allows parents to stay in the room with their child while inpatient care is continued post-birth, enhancing the family bonding experience with their new child.
Our team worked with the hospital to develop a unique finish palette to evoke the feeling of a soothing beachfront environment, tying in the local connection from the unit to the surrounding coastal community. Additionally, our interiors team designed a custom wall covering pattern that featured animals from the nearby Buttonwood Park Zoo. Patients in the unit receive a children’s book that is connected to the custom artwork.
Lavallee Brensinger helped direct the project through a unique DPH Submission, as this project type and care space was a first for the Commonwealth. The existing hospital space posed several challenges related to existing conditions that our team helped resolve during construction.
The St. Luke’s Hospital Patient Care Unit offers a unique and beneficial design that enhances patient and family care, while also attracting patients. The unit provides a special connection between caregiver and patient and creates a consolidation of care for mother and baby.
