The west side of campus will begin to visibly transform this spring as the University of Iowa begins to make room for a new adult inpatient tower.
After months of planning, UI Health Care, working closely with the university, is ready to deliver on its vision for a new adult inpatient tower. Before construction of the tower can begin, however, a new university building will be constructed and several existing structures will be demolished.
The tower and academic building are part of the university’s larger vision to improve the delivery of patient care and education for Iowans, as outlined in its 10-year facilities master plan.
Here’s what you need to know about these upcoming projects:
New adult hospitalization tower to improve patient access to care and medical education
The life-saving and life-changing health care provided by UI hospitals & Clinics are in high demand. IU hospitals & The clinics serve the entire state of Iowa and often have adult inpatient bed occupancy rates above industry standards. This affects operations and leaves more than 2,000 Iowans awaiting transfer each year.
Additionally, many buildings of UI hospitals & The main clinic campus is 50 years old or approaching it. The campus is in dire need of modernization to support the academic medical center’s tri-partite mission of education, research, and patient care.
IU hospitals & Clinics average number of services per year
- More … than 30,000 hospitalized patients
- More … than 50,000 Emergency room visits
- More … than 30,000 major surgeries
- More … than 150,000 minor surgeries
- More … than 1 million tours of main campus and community clinics
To address these issues, a new adult inpatient tower will be built on the north side of UI Hospitals. & Clinics’ main campus, currently occupied by Hospital Parking Ramp 1, the Water Tower, and the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center. Construction of the new tower is expected to begin in 2025 after these structures are dismantled.
The new hospitalization tower and adjacent multi-story lobby will create a welcoming gateway for UI hospitals & Clinics Campus and should include features such as:
- New entrances to the main hospital for patients, staff and other visitors.
- Space for ancillary patient care services such as pathology, radiology and pharmacy.
- A hospital surgery platform with several operating theaters.
- Several floors of inpatient units (48 beds per floor, each consisting of two 24-bed units).
- Stripped spaces to allow for future growth.
- Public space with panoramic views of Kinnick Stadium and the surrounding Iowa City landscape.
- Expansion of the hospital parking ramp 2.
- A support services tunnel linking UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
- A concourse connecting the new tower to the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.
- A walkway to the Hospital 3 parking ramp and West Campus Transportation Hub.
- Main hospital pantry, dining rooms and retail space.
- Multiple spaces supporting back office functions, such as a new hospital-wide central kitchen, central sterile, materials management, and new hospital-wide loading docks establishment.
Made possible by a $70 million gift from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation, the new inpatient tower will also be funded by patient revenue and Medicaid-directed payments.
Academic health sciences building will fuel student success
A key project that will make space for the new inpatient tower – a new academic health sciences building – will help Iowa students succeed by providing state-of-the-art learning space and enabling future growth at three of the university’s most popular colleges. and the best programs.
The building will be constructed south of Slater Residence Hall and west of Grand Avenue Court, adjacent to the Gerdin Athletic Learning Center. Since the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center on Hawkins Drive will need to be removed to make way for the inpatient tower, the top-ranked Communication Sciences and Disorders program will move to the new academic building. It will be joined by the fast-growing Department of Health and Human Physiology, and Department No. 4 of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences.
“The new academic building will go a long way in helping the university fulfill its missions of educating our students, recruiting world-class faculty, and providing the State of Iowa with healthcare professionals for its aging population,” said Rod Lehnertz, senior vice president of finance and operations. “Additionally, the programs that will be located in the building are among the most highly regarded in the country and among the fastest growing programs available to our students.”
Iowa has been a leader in communication sciences and disorders for more than a century, when pioneers such as Lee Edward Travis and Carl Seashore helped develop speech and auditory science as a discipline of study. Today, the university enjoys a #2 ranking in audiology and a #6 ranking in Speech therapyaccording American News & Global reportwith the only state Doctor of Audiology program. Many graduates of these programs enter Iowa’s healthcare workforce to support the state’s aging population.
Human health and physiology is the largest department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, with over 2,200 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students enrolled for fall 2022. The department has six areas of undergraduate study, including rapid growth Sport and Recreation Management with an enrollment of 225 students. To continue to grow, the program, currently housed in the aging country house, needs additional and more modern space.
The new university building will also provide essential space for Carver College of Medicine’s No. 4 Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, which welcomes about 150 doctoral students in professional license. With enrollment growth of 33% and a nearly eight-fold increase in grant funding since 2006, the department is now beyond capacity in its current location within the Medical Education Building, which was built in 1919. .
Moving the water tower
In September, the university’s utility partner, ENGIE North America, will begin construction of a new water tower northwest of the soccer practice grounds. The water tower, which provides water storage for the entire campus, is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. It will increase the amount of water storage for the campus and replace the water tower. current water along Hawkins Drive, which will be demolished. in the spring of 2025 to make way for a new patient care tower.
