A whole new day

Back in the day — Friday, to be exact — windowless surroundings and a floor-and-a-half elevator ride had been part of the experience for each patient undergoing outpatient surgery.

Starting Monday, everything will be on the same floor. A much brighter, more cheerful floor, where patients will smoothly move from preparation bays to operating rooms to the acute recovery area and then back to the bays, where they’ll complete their recovery.

During Thursday’s tours of the facility, “we’ve heard a lot of staff talking about the happy environment,” Rehabilitation Coordinator Anne White said of the multicolor scheme featuring vibrantly-painted walls and even brighter, more vibrantly-tiled floors. “I think this environment is more conducive to healing and moving forward.”

After coming in through the new entrance, outpatient surgical patients will register while their family members wait in a bright, sunny atrium. As the patients start making their way to the locker room, where storage lockers and private dressing cubicles await, the real color show begins.

“We love the colors,” Tolbert said. “We love the wide-openness of it. We love the natural light — and now we can look outside. I can’t wait for patients to start coming — because they’re going to love it.”

And that is exactly what Denise Johnson, MMC’s chief medical officer, hopes will happen.

“We really designed it with the patient in mind,” Johnson said. “How easy it’s going to be for the patient to get in here. How efficient it’s going to be for the people who are taking care of the patient. And how relaxing and comforting it’s going to be for the patients when they’re being taken care of here.”

Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.