A division of our firm *Empire Projects, Inc.* (www.EmpireProjects.com), provides "Owner's Rep" services to facility owners, including management of the design and construction process to maintain quality standards, and assure conformance to budget and schedule.

Our mission statement: high-quality design, excellent service, strategic thinking.

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*Featured Project*: "State-of-the-Art Radiology Facility in Manhattan", by Bernstein & Assoc., Architects

Completed in 2006, a new state-of-the-art, 12,000 sf radiology facility --- designed by Bernstein & Assoc., Architects --- has opened in Manhattan. Designed for one of Manhattan’s largest radiology practices, the facility includes three floors of high-tech radiology equipment set in a warm, attractive, patient-friendly environment.

Radiology equipment incorporated into the facility includes: 64-slice CT and CT Angiography, 1.5T MRI, PET/CT, Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine, GI and General Diagnostic Radiology, Mammography, and Bone Densitometry.

The facility was built out in a former garage building, and required substantial upgrades in various building systems: mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire alarm and structural. The existing structure needed further mitigation in terms of vibration control and moving metal.

There was also careful integration and coordination between the 3-dimensional, architectural and the more virtual, electronic information environment. Telecommunications infrastructure upgrades included new risers throughout building, data room with 24/7 cooling, and cabling throughout. The facility features a fully-integrated patient information system, including PACs, RIS, and remote back-up. The architecture and software infrastructure is designed around patient comfort and minimizing the work for referring physicians.

Excerpt from article:

“The vocal and sometimes contentious debates of the 1980s and 1990s on healthcare facility fire and electrical safety criteria have swung back to more normal and reasonable debating, particularly on electrical safety in the patient care environment. However, there is still much interest and differences of opinion on the subject of safety requirements for piped gas and vacuum systems. This is evidenced by the number of proposals on the subject since major changes were first made for these systems in the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) 1993 and 1996 editions of NFPA 99, Standard for Health Care Facilities…”

For full text of article go to:

"The Test of Time - As Health Care Evolves, so does Planetree", Health Facilities Management, (c) Dana Dubbs, 4/06

Excerpt from article:

“It’s been about 20 years since Planetree’s model of patient-centered care first came alive inside a San Francisco medical center. Huge changes have rocked hospitals since then, including a shift in the health delivery system, an influx of technology and new rules for patient privacy, yet the model remains as relevant as ever…”

For full text of article go to:

In March of this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a report entitled: “Hospital Bed System Dimensional and Assessment Guidance to Reduce Entrapment”.

The report addresses potential injuries and fatalities resulting from patients in a health care setting becoming entrapped in hospital beds. Over a period of 21 years (through January of this year), the FDA received 691 entrapment reports, in which 413 people died, 120 were injured and 158 were near-miss events with no serious injury as a result of intervention.

The report notes that entrapment events have occurred in “openings within the bed rails, between the bed rails and mattresses, under bed rails, between split rails, and between the bed rails and head or foot boards”.

Not all patients are equally vulnerable. The report cites the population most vulnerable to entrapment as :

“elderly patients and residents, especially those who are frail, confused, restless, or who have uncontrolled body movement.”

Entrapments occurred in a variety of patient care settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, and private homes.

The report provides details on potential zones of entrapment, as well as minimum dimensions to prevent entrapment.