ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
A wide variety of rooms and spaces support structured and unstructured activities for every patient’s treatment plan. A penthouse level play yard extends across the adjacent rooftop.
confines of a well-established masterplan; the Behavioral Health Pavilion (BHP) is now positioned as the centrepiece of Nationwide’s West Campus, located on the edge of downtown Columbus. Flanked by an Ambulatory Outpatient Care Center and a Conferencing Center that welcome the greater Columbus community, the new building presents itself in a way that is equally accessible and dignified.
Starting from scratch A unique challenge of this project was the newness of the psychiatric services being offered. The concept, staff, and service were virtually non-existent nine months before architecture+ was engaged. Our team provided listening leadership based on our broad national experience that helped guide this new initiative to a successful completion. The clinical stakeholders comprised a sparse representation of service lines and thought-leaders driving its creation. The staffing complement was not yet onboarded, and therefore the testing of operational models occurred throughout the design process. An enthusiasm for testing these models through physically constructed mock-ups proved successful. The commitment and investment of time by hospital staff allowed for the assembly of programmes and procedures that would be carried out by psychiatric caregivers not yet employed by Nationwide. Nationwide Children’s Hospital fully integrates research into its medical care at all levels. The building we designed to serve young psychiatric patients was generated through collaborative discourse
between scientists, clinicians, strategic administrators, and the greater community, who are committed to providing a path to recovery for all mentally ill and behaviourally challenged children. Deep and consistent involvement from these stakeholders shaped the design process to ensure the cooperation of the multitude of different programmes and services provided within the new building. The planning of this project was based
on accessibility to care. Nationwide Children’s Hospital has been offering a wide range of sub-acute mental health resources in its catchment area for years – including for anxiety and mood disorder therapies, and family-based treatment for children with severe behavioural and intellectual disorders. This care had been provided in the community and in schools, but not on the medical campus. Upon opening one inpatient unit in its medical bed tower just months prior to the launch of the BHP project, Nationwide generated excellent mental health outcomes, and acknowledged the need to expand its services to include all levels of the care continuum. The stacking diagram for the new building was developed in response to the directive that services be organised to accommodate the most urgent needs closest to building access points. The first floor is open, cheerful, and inviting, and enjoys direct connections to two new parking garages, as well as a drop-off drive at the main entry. The Psychiatric Crisis Department is situated such that staff can assist those families with reluctant or highly agitated children. This
The new facility breaks stigma in its architectural elegance, accessibility, and consistency of brand, accomplishing its goal in the way it delivers care to its patients and their families. The continuity of brand through interior design in the Behavioral Health Pavilion sends a clear message that Nationwide is delivering mental healthcare just as it does any other type of care
THE NETWORK | FEBRUARY 2024
represents what may be the most acute and unpredictable line of care, but in a committed effort to reduce stigma, its presence is not secluded, but instead prominently adjacent to the building’s main entry.
A well-coordinated team A well-coordinated care team led by psychiatrists at the Crisis Center comprised the usual members – physicians, therapists, nurses, and social workers – but also integrated well-trained safety officers and members of local emergency response teams. Nationwide has fostered the growth of a network of mental health crisis responders in central Ohio, hosting their own on-site call centre, and engaging with other community mental health crisis call centres. The crisis intervention staff aim to reduce admittance of their patients into the hospital, treating children and adolescents in the least restrictive environment possible. Upon assessment, a child may be referred directly to one of Nationwide’s many specialty outpatient programmes within the BHP, elsewhere on campus, or in the community. Alternatively, they may be retained for up to a day for further observation in a dedicated 10-bed unit just beyond the core of the Crisis Center. Only if other options are exhausted are patients assigned to one of the inpatient units on the upper floors of the Pavilion. The new facility also houses a Youth
Crisis Stabilization Unit (YCSU) consisting of 16 beds devoted to providing immediate intervention upon assessment in the Crisis Center. On this YCSU, patients receive the majority of their care in their rooms, typically staying for 72 hours or less. Unlike most other programmes which involve milieu therapy, the objective of the YCSU is to address the root of a patient’s psychiatric crisis through intense provider care so that a step-down to outpatient care can be made as quickly as possible. The upper floors are fitted out to
provide acute inpatient care for children and adolescents with acute mental illness and behavioural disorders associated with intellectual disabilities. At fifth floor
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