OVERVIEW: THE AMBULATORY CARE CENTER

A New Front Door

In the fall of 2005, Fletcher Allen Health Care opened its new Ambulatory Care Center on Fletcher Allen’s Medical Center Campus in Burlington.  The Ambulatory Care Center serves as the new front door to the Medical Center Campus, providing a single, convenient entry point to all outpatient and inpatient services on the campus.

Patients, family members and visitors now enter and exit the campus via this new front door. A four-level underground parking garage provides 1,284 covered parking spaces and direct access into the new building on several levels. Improved signs and maps, as well as staff members and volunteers, are dedicated to helping patients and visitors get where they need to go.

Main Lobby

The ground floor of the Ambulatory Care Center (Level 3) serves as the new main lobby, containing an Information Desk, the Frymoyer Community Health Resource Center, Gift Shop and Pharmacy.

Outpatient Care Centers

Outpatient specialty care centers--clinics that have been relocated from the University Health Center (UHC) Campus on South Prospect Street and from other Fletcher Allen sites in the area--bring a wide range of services and experts to patients in one area of the medical center.  This is where many physician visits will take place.

Examples of these outpatient centers include:

Vermont Cancer Center Clinics

At the Vermont Cancer Center clinics, the University of Vermont and Fletcher Allen integrate patient care with teaching and research to benefit cancer patients and their families. The Breast Care Center, Hematology/Oncology Outpatient Clinic and Radiation Oncology are now located in close proximity to one another so that cancer patients may receive their care in a more centralized location.

Children’s Specialty Center

The new Children’s Specialty Center—an outpatient clinic for pediatric patients who need specialized services—offers pediatric care in a wide range of specialties, including cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, infectious diseases, nephrology, pediatric surgery, pulmonology and others. The new center expands the number of exam rooms and special procedure rooms, features separate consultation rooms where families can meet with the medical team, and provides a child- and family friendly decor.

Obstetrics and Gynecology Outpatient Clinics

This area includes obstetrics and gynecology services which had been located on both the University Health Center and Medical Center campuses. More than ten different Women’s services are being centralized in the new space, including Maternal Fetal Medicine, Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, Gynecologic Oncology, the Fetal Diagnostic Center, and Gynecologic Ultrasound Imaging, providing easier access for patients.

Medicine Outpatient Specialty Clinics

The Ambulatory Care Center consolidates a number of Medicine subspecialties in one clinical area. These clinics previously were located on the UHC Campus and Fanny Allen Campus. They include the following:

• Infectious Disease and Comprehensive Care Clinic
• International Travel Medicine
• Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology
• Pulmonary Medicine
• Pulmonary Function Laboratory
• The Osteoporosis Center

Surgery Outpatient Specialty Clinics

The new facility also consolidates many Surgery subspecialties and other closely related specialties in one location. These outpatient clinics previously were housed at the UHC Campus, Medical Center Campus and off-site at different locations.

• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastroenterology and Hepatology
• General and Gastrointestinal Surgery
• Neurology and Neurological Surgery
• Trauma Surgery
• Urology
• Vascular Surgery

Other Outpatient Specialty Clinics

In addition to clinics located in the new Medicine and Surgery areas, other specialties have their own dedicated space in the Ambulatory Care Center. These include the following:

• Outpatient Radiology
• Dermatology Outpatient Clinic
• Ophthalmology Outpatient Clinic
• Otolaryngology Outpatient Clinic
• Endoscopy Outpatient Clinic

OTHER NEW FACILITIES

Surgery Center

The Surgery Center includes a new pre and post-surgery area which opened in February 2005, as well as eight new operating suites scheduled to open in early November.

Laboratory Services

Opened in May 2005, the new Laboratory consolidates pathology and laboratory services in one location in the Ambulatory Care Center. Previously, laboratory services had been spread out in five different places on two Fletcher Allen campuses. In addition to serving Fletcher Allen, the new lab also helps better meet the needs of Fletcher Allen’s statewide laboratory network—the Northeast Community Laboratory Alliance—for which Fletcher Allen serves as the main laboratory.

Birthing Center

Opened in May 2004, the new Claire M. Lintilhac Birthing Center offers larger rooms to better accommodate women and their support people during labor and delivery. It also features a labor lounge with views of downtown Burlington, Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains.

Central Plant

Opened in June 2004, the Central Plant includes all of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning infrastructure for the entire Medical Center Campus. 

Inpatient Psychiatry Units

Fletcher Allen’s new Inpatient Psychiatry Units, which opened in September 2005, are the product of a collaboration between Fletcher Allen and members of the mental health community.

Fletcher Allen involved members of the mental health community in the planning of the new units on the Medical Center Campus in Burlington. A Mental Health Task Force, made up of mental health advocates and consumers, worked directly with Fletcher Allen to plan and design the new units in the newly expanded Shepardson Building. The new units provide nearly 6,000 additional square feet of space. They include an open unit located on the third floor of Shepardson and a secure unit located on the sixth floor. The layout of the two units is designed to enhance a sense of accessibility and offer patients opportunities to socialize. Most of the patient rooms are single occupancy, each with its own private bathroom. There are several large, open patient activity spaces and lounges, with increased space for treatment. The team station is designed to give patients better access to staff. The secure unit has a balcony with views of Mount Mansfield. There is also a dedicated outdoor space, where patients can participate in outdoor activities in a beautiful, private setting.

Voices from the Mental Health Task Force

“My first hospitalization was here on Smith 4. I know what it felt like. I know what the environment felt like. To have my voice heard in the design and construction meant that I knew … and know for the future that it’s been designed thinking about what’s most helpful for the patient, what’s most helpful to make it patient-centered and make a patient feel more respected.

We were a part from the beginning through the end in the design of this unit and I think it’s made a better unit... We have an expression in the consumer advocacy community: ‘Nothing About Us, Without Us.’ It’s pretty clear in its meaning. If you don’t hear our voice, if we’re not part of it, it shouldn’t be happening.”

-- Anne Donahue of Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, and a member of the Mental Health Task Force.

“Very thoughtfully over the past year and a half there has been a process, a collaborative process, that not only involved the treatment people, the administrative leaders at Fletcher Allen Health Care, but it’s reached out to treatment providers in the community, to parents, to family members, to consumers and to advocates.

It’s our belief that not only will we have a facility that is excellent in terms of the environment … the bricks and mortar, but we’re going to have a facility at Fletcher Allen that really is developed around the needs of the consumer, of the patient and their families. This is truly a monumental step forward.”

 -- Ken Libertoff of the Vermont Association for Mental Health, and a member of the Mental Health Task Force.

“I like the fact that it’s going to provide a positive, attractive place for people to heal and be treated by a staff of professionals who are themselves very excited about new beginnings.”

-- Pat Camp of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Vermont Chapter, and a member of the Mental Health Task Force.

Mary Fletcher Building Restoration

Fletcher Allen is restoring the historic Mary Fletcher Building—the original hospital building that dates back to 1879. The building, which sits at the top of the hill overlooking Colchester Avenue, is named for Mary Martha Fletcher, who carried out her father’s wishes to found a public hospital.

She donated $25,000 for a site, $50,000 to erect the building and $100,000 toward a permanent capital endowment for the hospital.  The building was designed by Vermont-born Boston architect W.P. Wentworth. The goal of the restoration project is to restore the look of the Mary Fletcher Building as close as possible to its appearance when it first opened to patients. Among the key aspects of the project are the reconstruction of a rooftop belvedere with metal weathervane, repair of the building’s foundation, the reconstruction of ten five foot chimneys, brick cleaning and restoration, and window replacement. Crews will also reconstruct the covered entryway—known as a porte cochere—in front of the Mary Fletcher Building. The project is expected to be completed by the end of November 2005.

OVERVIEW: MEDICAL EDUCATION CENTER

The Medical Education Center is a joint facility built by Fletcher Allen and the University of Vermont College of Medicine. It provides a physical link between Fletcher Allen and the University of Vermont, and represents the joint mission of our two institutions: patient care, education, research and community service.

Located here is the new two-story Medical Education Pavilion, with 16 classrooms and a large lecture hall designed for high-tech education, which opened in August for the academic year. On the Medical Education Center concourse is the new home of the Dana Medical Library, which opened in July, where students, faculty and staff, along with patients, families and community members, can access a wide range of health science resources.

Also in the Medical Education Center is a 150-seat auditorium named for John H. Davis, M.D., former Chief of Surgery at Fletcher Allen and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Vermont.