Healthcare: Inova Fair Oaks opens surgery center
Officials at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital hope that the facility’s new outpatient surgery center will be an appealing new option for people who need to have minor surgical procedures.
The Ambulatory Surgery Center, located in a new $21 million medical office building on the hospital campus, opened last week and has already treated its first patients, according to officials. It has three rooms for procedures such as endoscopies, as well as four operating rooms.
“It maximizes use of the resources that you have,” said John Fitzgerald, the hospital’s CEO, who added that moving the outpatient procedures to the new center will free up operating time in the hospital’s main operating room.
“It’s going to really serve the community well,” said Ann Plapp, assistant vice president for ambulatory services for Inova Health Systems.
In designing and decorating the center, the staff said they tried to ensure more patient privacy and create a more spa-like atmosphere so that people don’t feel like they are at a hospital.
“It gives them a place to go have surgical procedures and still feel well,” said Sheree Lopez, administrator for the surgery center. “We really cater to the patients.”
Walls, rather than curtains, separate the pre- and post-op exam areas, and enclosed rooms allow patients checking in to discuss private information.
The walls in the waiting area are covered in pale green wallpaper and display large photographs of local scenery, and the surgical areas have colored tile flooring.
“[Patients] come, they have their procedure and then they go recover at home,” Lopez said. “They recover much better that way.”
The other spaces in the medical office building will be filled by doctors’ offices, meeting demand from physicians who want to locate on the campus. The two existing medical office buildings are full.
“We were out of space completely,” Fitzgerald said.
Also included in the construction project was a 950-space parking garage that will add additional free parking for patients and visitors. The $17 million garage includes energy-efficient LED lighting and low-energy elevators. All materials removed from the project were also recycled.
By Kali Schumitz for Fairfax Times
