Loma Linda breaks ground on state-of-the-art hospital
Shovels hitting the dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony at Loma Linda University Health on May 22. Image by LLUH
Posted May 24, 2016 | Loma Linda, California, United States | By Adventist Review staff, with Loma Linda University Health
With more than 3,000 people looking on, Loma Linda University Health leaders broke ground on a new hospital complex that they promised would be the tallest building in San Bernardino County in southern California and, more important, a beacon of hope for all.
The new 16-floor Loma Linda University Medical Center and expanded Children’s Hospital is to stand 267 feet (81 meters) tall and contain 693 beds once its opens in 2020.
The complex will be located on the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus, named after a married couple who donated $100 million toward a philanthropic campaign benefiting the hospital, said Richard Hart, president of Loma Linda University Health.
“This institution was built through stages by visionary leaders who took the realities of their day and molded them into a strategy for the future,” Hart said as shovels hit the dirt on Sunday, May 23. “Our hospitals are where our beliefs are put into action, where our knowledge, our expertise, and our compassion come together to restore lives and families.”
The hospital will not only be the tallest building in San Bernardino County, but it will also be deemed one of the safest in California, Loma Linda University Health said. The project is implementing a first-of-its-kind vertical earthquake isolation system that separates the building from the ground using more than 500 vertical shock absorbers, a large-scale version of a modern car suspension system.
“Working hand-in-hand with a lateral earthquake isolation system of sliding bearings and dampers, the system will protect patients and staff from injury while keeping the hospital operational following a potentially catastrophic magnitude 7.9 earthquake on the nearby San Jacinto Fault,” it said in a statement.
The current Loma Linda University Medical Center, which is nearly 50 years old, does not meet California’s seismic requirements for inpatient care.
The new complex is receiving funding through a $1.2 billion philanthropic campaign called “Vision 2020: The Campaign for a Whole Tomorrow.” Rachelle Bussell, senior vice president of advancement at Loma Linda University Health, announced Sunday that 13,000 people have contributed more than $225 million toward that goal.
The new hospital, designed by Seattle-based architecture firm NBBJ, will have wellness gardens that support physical, social and spiritual health; patient rooms that promote patient and family healing; nursing stations that encourage collaboration; and community spaces filled with natural light, Loma Linda University Health said. It also will have 60-seat chapel and a new helipad.
Richard Dallam, partner in charge of the project at NBBJ, said architects had sought a design that would help connect patients and hospital staff with the natural environment, the wider community, and God — all in support of Loma Linda’s motto, “To Make Man Whole.”
“The design promises to set a new standard for health care and hospital architecture,” Dallam, said.
Loma Linda University Health is known internationally for its leading role in medical care advances, and Kerry Heinrich, chief executive of the Loma Linda University Medical Center, promised that those innovations would continue at the new complex.
“It will stand as a beacon of hope for all of us, and especially those who are facing their darkest hour,” Heinrich said.
For more information about the project or to donate, visit lluhvision2020.org