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The first in a series of major upgrades at Jackson Memorial Hospital will be officially opened Monday, creating a new home for the world-class spinal program operated in partnership with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
Comfort for patients and their loved ones was the defining principle for the 25 newly renovated rooms on the sixth floor of the West Wing tower. The upgrades, which will be replicated in other Jackson units in the coming months and years, feature new beds and furniture, including sleeper sofas for visitors, as well as upgraded bathrooms, flat-screen televisions, and hotel-style safes for patients’ valuables.
“We believe that patients recover better when they and their loved ones are comfortable,” said Carlos A. Migoya, President & CEO of Jackson Health System. “Moreover, these kinds of improvements are vital to make Jackson more attractive in South Florida’s increasingly competitive healthcare environment.”
The facelift ensures that rooms on West Wing 6 have an appearance that lives up to the global reputation of Jackson’s spinal service, including patients of Dr. Barth Green, UM’s celebrated chairman of neurological surgery and founder of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
“Patients travel from across the country and around the world to receive care from UM/Jackson spinal surgeons,” Dr. Green said. “These upgrades help convey the excellence with which we treat every patient.”
Cutting-edge spinal services offered at Jackson range from minimally invasive procedures to the most complex open operations for spinal injuries, deformities and tumors. The hospital features the latest technology, such as computer-guided navigation, the O-arm intraoperative CT scanner, and spinal ultrasonography.
Dr. Green and UM/Jackson colleagues Dr. Allan Levi, Dr. Nathan Lebwohl, Dr. Steven Vanni, Dr. Michael Wang, Dr. Ryan Trombly, Dr. Howard Levene, Dr. Glen Manzano and Dr. Jonathan Gottlieb and among the world’s top trend-setters in spinal care. They represent the clinical arm of The Miami Project and recently performed the first human Schwann cell transplant in a spinal cord injury.
The renovation project cost $1.1 million, substantially less than the $1.5 million budget. It was funded with Jackson’s operating revenues. The health system showed a surplus in FY 2011-12 for the first time in five years, and this reinvestment into the hospital is one example of the way sustained financial performance will lead to better programs and services across Jackson to serve the Miami-Dade community.
The 14-story West Wing tower at Jackson Memorial Hospital opened in 1976. In addition to housing 348 patient rooms, the West Wing also has two endovascular suites, a neurosurgical intensive care unit, transplant and cardiac units and Jackson Memorial’s award winning stroke center.
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