New Redwood City Hospital Opens

REDWOOD CITY, CA—The new 149-bed Redwood Medical Center opened Tuesday concluding an unprecedented period of growth, for medical property company Kaiser Permanente. This is the third new hospital the firm has opened in Northern California in 2014. The striking seven-floor, 280,000-square foot structure at the corner of Veterans Boulevard and Walnut Street is adjacent to a building it replaces. It meets the state’s new, stricter seismic-safety standards that go into effect on January 1. Redwood City is a regional center for Kaiser Permanente’s advanced neurological care and surgery, and the new hospital features neuro-interventional radiology suites, neurological CT scans and neuro-interventional imaging suites, and dedicated neurological and orthopedic operating rooms. “Our new Redwood City hospital is the culmination of a $2 billion commitment by Kaiser Permanente to our members and the communities we serve,” said Gregory Adams, group president and regional president of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan, Inc., in Northern California. “We are an industry leader in delivering high-quality, affordable health care, and as the third new facility we have opened this year, the Redwood City hospital reflects our commitment to providing exceptional, patient-centered care to our members in modern, up-to-date facilities.” The new facility features private rooms with room service, Wi-Fi and pull-out guest beds so family and friends can stay close to hospitalized loved ones overnight. Throughout the hospital, patient rooms feature the Get Well Network, an interactive electronic patient care board connected to a 42-inch plasma screen. Patients can view television programs, movies and patient-education videos; they can find the names of doctors and nurses, receive email, and read a care schedule that covers their hospital stay and follow-up care once they are released. The hospital also features an electronic way-finding board that helps members and visitors find people and destinations in the hospital, in English and Spanish. “The new hospital at Redwood City and its fellow new hospitals in Oakland and San Leandro showcase the excellence in medical care that we provide in Kaiser Permanente. Our superior quality outcomes and personalized service have allowed us to increase our membership in Northern California by more than 170,000 individuals this year, and made us the model for health care for the future,” said Robert Pearl, MD, executive director and CEO of The Permanente Medical Group. “The neurosurgical team in Redwood City is world class and their results exceptional. This state-of-the-art hospital will allow them to provide even more impressive care for the most complex problems that patients experience.” Kaiser Permanente began large-scale facilities work in 2002-2003 with the debut of a major hospital construction effort in Northern California. The main thrust of the program was to create or enhance facilities to embrace new technologies and other advanced features of modern health care. A large component of that work involved seismic upgrades to meet newer, more stringent requirements that were enacted by the state after the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes. Over the past 10 years, Kaiser Permanente in Northern California also has built and opened a new Santa Clara Medical Center; replaced the hospital tower at Vallejo; performed major expansions at Santa Rosa, Roseville and South Sacramento; and constructed new expansion medical centers that are now serving members in Antioch, Modesto and Vacaville. The company operates 21 hospitals and 237 medical office buildings in Northern California, which serve 3.6 million members.