Defining a Culture of Care at Kaiser Fremont Emergency Department

The Kaiser Permanente, Fremont Medical Center campus is comprised of both acute care hospital-based services and ambulatory services located in various medical office buildings. Faced with the need to organize the future development of the combined campus and provided for project growth needs for both inpatient and outpatient populations, Kaiser Permanente engaged Ratcliff to prepare a Long Term Campus Master Plan.

The Master Plan was tasked to address an initial phase implementation project relocating emergency services to the opposite side of the hospital buildings from where it is currently located. This maneuver enabled emergency services to continue in its current location, without construction-based interruption, while a new building is being built. The re-zoning of acute care services provided for increased traffic safety and redefined campus circulation, both pedestrian and vehicular. Additional patient beds are part of the ED Building expansion and the old Emergency Department is earmarked for internal growth for formerly landlocked departments. Future Behavioral Health and a Patient Bed Tower are also part of the projected phased development of the acute care hospital.

The long term vision for the ambulatory care half of the campus, as defined in the Master Plan, focused on maximizing the site for the footprint of several medical office buildings ranging from 90,000 square feet to 135,000 square feet to be sequentially built in the near future. The projected increase in staff and patient parking needs required the addition of a new parking structure at the outpatient portion of the campus with the option to build another parking structure serving the acute care campus. Reinforced pedestrian circulation routes, perimeter access points, expansion of the CUP and future development of service, delivery and materials management are all included in the Long Term Campus Master Plan.