observation and former Cardiac Short Stay unit rooms.This fall, the first phase of the new 60,000 square foot, 48-bed critical care floor and intensive care units will open. This will replace the medical and surgical intensive care units and feature the latest technology and patient and family amenities. Twelve additional rooms will be available
in the current MICU 1.Two new clinics will serve the growing primary care needs in the community. A purchase agreement has been signed on a block north of Lake Street in the Whittier Neighborhood for a clinic to replace Family Medical Center, which is currently over capacity. Sites are also being reviewed for a new clinic in Brooklyn Park. The first phase of the master facility plan also includes purchasing land for a new outpatient clinic and education facility in downtown Minneapolis.
Other recent improvements at the medical center include renovation of existing inpatient psychiatric
units, including the addition of 15 new inpatient psychiatry beds; renovation of the inpatient
Pediatrics unit; construction of a new express care team center in the Emergency Department; and
renovation and expansion of the mental health crisis center.
Signs of the times
New signs are being installed around campus over the next eight weeks. More than 25 new signs will be installed as part of an exterior signage plan created to help patients, families, and visitors get to where they are going. There will be new entrance signs, traffic control signs, and landmark campus signs. Some will replace current signs and others will be new. Along with improving wayfinding by helping people get to the right main entrance, the new signs will have the updated logo and address information and increase the general visibility of the hospital to the thousands of people who drive by and walk through the campus every day.