Beverly Hospital at Danvers to open mid November

“This is the best of the best,” said Project Manager Bud Holden Monday morning. “No one, not Mass General or anyone, can top this.”

The Mass General Hospital name looms as a huge competitor, since it is paired with North Shore Medical Center at a new facility next to Osram Sylvania on Endicott Street in Danvers. (See separate story.)

Northeast Health Systems, which owns Beverly Hospital and the Hunt Center, among other health facilities on the North Shore, is focused on the present, however, with employees obviously proud of this 99,000 square-foot, $30 million center.

“We’re really excited about this new building,” said Media Relations Manager Heather Jones.

Employees may feel particularly vested, since nurses and doctors and other medical practitioners had a say in how the building should be organized, Jones said.

“It is patient-friendly,” said public relations assistant Erin Doyle, separately.

It’s like “a race track,” said Holden, in that it provides ease of movement from one medical specialty to related medical areas.

The fact that the building is built into the side of a hill worked to their advantage, Holden said. The north side is at ground level; so, too, is the south side, even though it is 40 feet higher. Patients do not have to deal with stairs when they enter the first-floor Lifestyle Management Institute, for instance, for their difficulties with asthma or diabetes, among other chronic ailments. They don’t have any stairs on the second-floor, either, when they enter around the south side for their day surgery.

The third floor will house private physician offices. So far, North Shore Pediatrics has leased space, as have Dr. Steven Keenholtz and Dr. Thomas Lapine, both internists. Another orthopedic private practice is on board. There are 6,000 square feet still available, which will be fitted out per tenant’s specifications, Holden said. Contact Vice President Jodi Fleit at the hospital for more information.

Among other medical specialties offered are the Breast Health Center, the Radiology and Imaging Services, a Spine Center, a Pain Management Center, an Orthopedic Center, and a Center for Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine.

Architectural firm AMB of Milwaukee and builder Dacon Construction of Natick incorporated the most energy efficient electrical and plumbing fixtures and other “green” materials wherever possible, Holden said.

 “Does anyone even remember the name of the second man to walk on the moon?” asks an advertisement for the new facility. Hospital officials obviously hope that being first with the newest in technology will win them enduring loyalty.

The building should be “substantially complete” on Oct. 5, with an occupancy permit from the town, Holden said. That also involves the local fire department’s OK of its fire-safety systems.

The state Department of Public Safety will also check alarms and fireproofing, and the state Department of Public Health will check out the medical intricacies on Nov. 13, Holden said.

Meanwhile, most of the Hunt Hospital medical apparatus will be moved to the new medical and day surgery center over four days, Nov. 8-12, said Holden.

The new CT scanner is actually already in operation at Hunt. Workmen have set the epoxy pad on which it will sit in its new home.

“It has to be exactly level,” Holden said, adding, “It’s worth a lot of money.”

Among other technological wonders is a room for a “gas bank.” That’s where the oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and medical air originate and then traverse to the “anesthesia booms” in the four operating rooms on the second floor, Holden explained.

Patient tests — for instance, an X-ray or MRI — will be instantaneously available to the doctor, since the building will have the very latest technology, Holden said.

And, everything will be high speed, digital and Internet connected, even in the staff lounge, so that doctors can call up patients’ records as they sip their coffee, Holden said.

Something as apparently simple as the gymnasium in the Lifestyle Management area will have the best of the best — a foam padded wood floor, Holden said, which should be very easy on the bones.

Meanwhile, the Hunt Center, which was formerly Hunt Hospital until sold to Beverly Hospital in 1990, will continue to house Northeast Health System’s Center for Healthy Aging and the Sleep Disorder Unit.

North Shore Medical will continue to rent space for its teenage psychiatric unit, and Five-Star Rehabilitation (formerly Health South) will remain in the Hunt, said Jones.

“We’re trying to do the right thing by the town and our Board of Trustees, who still want to see (the Hunt) as a health facility,” Jones said.