>> US News & World Report has recognized UC Irvine Medical Center as one of America's
Top Hospitals for 8 years running, and that's really what we were able to do in the old
building. We've created now a place to treat the most complex and serious conditions with
top-flight patient care, life-saving research and wonderful medical education.
>> It is exhilarating, I mean, to watch this thing come up in the last four years, and
now it's a reality. And it's going make taking care of patients even more fun than it is
already, and it's going to be a wonderful, wonderful place for Orange County.
>> You know now the real work begins. The discover, teach, heal - it’s all going to
happen here.
>> One of the improvements is just we have private rooms. Private rooms are the most
requested amenity. The private room not only gives a patient privacy, but it also gives
the treatment teams an opportunity to conduct procedures right there in the room. The new
patient rooms are filled with not only patient comforts, but also family comforts. It's a
little bit like a hotel, and we provide sleep arrangements in an alcove for the families.
And we have flat screen televisions. There is also Internet access, so that patients
who would like to do work from their bed can do so and stay connected. We are hoping that
patients and their families have a "wow" experience. And I think from the point of entry, our grand
lobby gives you a "wow" experience when you walk in. The colors are warm and inviting.
The art is nature in theme. There are windows in everyone’s room, so that brings in the
natural light. And folks have a view, and they can think futuristically about what's
going to be after their care here at the hospital. It is not just the illness that's in the bed,
it is the person that's in the bed. That is who's here for treatment, and the illness
has interrupted their life in so many ways. It has also interrupted their family's life,
too. We sometimes consider the family the secondary patient, because we know we have
both of them to be concerned about.
>> This room we are in is one of two dedicated neurosurgery rooms here at the new University
Hospital. We are extremely proud of this brand new O.R. It's one of the first times in the
design and building of a hospital, physicians have been able to work together with the construction
people and designers and architects to come up with a truly unique and state-of-the-art
operating theatre for neurosurgery. That means that we can dedicate this room to very sophisticated
electrophysiology monitoring of patient's brain, spinal cord and nerves, without electrical
interference for the greatest safety of our patients. But more importantly, we can use
this room as a dedicated intro-operative M.R. operating suite, so we can bring the only
intro-operative M.R. staff south of L.A. in this room and utilize it with the highest
quality of imaging. To be able to again achieve the best outcomes and the highest degree of
safety for our patients, particularly for our brain tumor patients. When I was a young
neurosurgeon, did I ever dream of this possibility? Well, young neurosurgeons have a tendency
to have large dreams. It's inherent in their nature. Certainly I dreamed it, but it wasn’t
until I came to UC Irvine did I recognize that it was going to be possible as a reality.
And that day is here.
>> The new NICU is going to have state-of-the-art monitoring equipment. Each baby will have
monitoring in their own room, and also the nurse will be able to monitor the baby from
a central monitoring system. All the individual rooms will have their own thermostat. The
nurse will have the ability to control the lighting. Each mother will have her own comfortable
kangaroo chair. The families will have much more privacy. It will be much quieter. The
nurse will spend the majority of her day in her patient room interacting with the parents.
The families will be more a part of their baby’s care. I feel like the care we give
in the NICU at UCI has always been exemplary. Now with our new, bright, fresh neonatal unit,
I feel like it's finally going to reflect and support the top-notch neonatal care that
we give to the babies each and every day.
>> The meditation prayer room is designed to be a serene place where families, friends,
patients and our staff can come to pray, to meditate. And we encourage people of all faiths
to use the meditation prayer room. UCI is committed to whole patient care. Obviously
we care for the body. That is why people come here. And the social issues and the psychological
issues, and the pastoral care issues, spiritual - we care for it all. And that’s why we
are here and what we do. We're here for the whole person.
>> This is a building where dreams and prayers will be answered and miracles will come true.
For thousands and thousands and thousands of people on a daily basis, for generations
to come.
>> With this new facility, we will be a premier hospital, a destination hospital, we hope.
There is currently no match in the county.
>> This is a new day for patients of Orange County and for the University of California,
Irvine. We are tremendously excited and enthusiastic about taking part in it.