Intermountain Healthcare Reimagines Medical Campus as Community Health Hub

Nestled into the Virgin River Gorge on a dramatic site among the Red Cliffs, St. George Regional Medical Center  consolidates two campuses into a single, multi-service, easy-to-navigate campus. Intermountain’s mission of helping people live the healthiest lives possible is realized in their LiveWell program. The program focuses on four components: Eat Well, Move Well, Feel Well, and Be Well.

Several steps were taken to ensure the program was enabled through design by improving the ability to move physically throughout the campus. A walking path extends around the campus with greenery and markers that detail travel distances to desired locations. LiveWell signs that deliver ways to stay healthy in your life hang on the walls of all campus buildings and open staircases encourage patients to take the stairs when possible were included.

A Reflection of the Local Landscape

Cherished by its community, medical staff and patients since the 1930s, Intermountain Healthcare’s St. George Regional Medical Center is the prominent care provider for Northwestern Arizona, Southeastern Nevada and Southern Utah. In response to increased demand and changing community needs, the campus set the course for an expansion of the facility and the implementation of new healthcare technologies to continue its mission to serve the surrounding population from its dramatic site among the Red Cliffs of St. George, Utah.

The people of St. George are very active in the surrounding landscape of mountains, cliffs, rivers and trails. Inspired by the striation cut into the cliffs by the Virgin River, elements of nature were assigned to each of the five levels, starting with pebbles of the riverbed on the lower level, then river and water, followed by trail at the next level, then rock layers that make the cliffs of the riverside, and finally waterfall at the top level, reflecting the local environment within the facility.

Our design team reimagined an approach to campus growth that capitalized on what patients and visitors already loved about the place — its small scale and easy wayfinding. Two campuses were consolidated into the new facility at River Road, sized to relocate and expand acute-care services as well as make room for a newly designed Women & Newborn Center.

The DRMC campus transformation is the largest project in southern Utah and not only increases the medical center to a Level II trauma center, but also brings the first integrated MRI to the state of Utah.

Designing in Parts to Build the Whole

The final master plan consisted of two separate bed towers: One at the northwest corner for the Women & Newborn services and another at the southeast corner expanding adult services from the existing bed tower. The Intermountain Cancer Center, designed to place cancer treatment and research under one roof, rests adjacent to the main campus.

Evolving the master plan from one large project to three smaller ones allows the existing infrastructure and support services — such as the clinical lab, loading dock and food service — to more seamlessly handle the increased capacity and expanded distribution.

New site developments include increased parking, wellness paths for patients as well as community members, and outdoor dining and recreation spaces — all extending what is already a veritable living museum of trees and plants native to the high desert region.

Caring for New Life and Mothers

In this new model, the Women & Newborn Center has developed a distinct identity independent of other service lines. A dedicated entry/drop-off for patients separates these services from the rest of the program, while establishing internal adjacencies such as labor and delivery on the same floor as the NICU, and post-partum care located one floor above.

The interior design creates a calming and user-friendly environment. On-stage/off-stage circulation establishes separate pathways for patient and material flows minimizing noise and eliminating clutter.

Patient safety is ensured through decentralized workstations for caregivers which provide high visibility and allow close proximity to patients. All patient care spaces are designed to accommodate a family member for overnight stays, have ample access to daylight and are organized to take full advantage of distant desert mountain views.