Photograph by Jonathan Pollack
Not long ago, anyone visiting more than one outpatient clinic at Barnes-Jewish Hospital had to travel from building to building and make operating-room appointments for even minor surgical procedures. But in early March, the new 12-story Barnes-Jewish Center for Outpatient Health opened, smoothing the experience for patients.
The facility houses five clinics formerly located in older buildings. “About 40 percent of the patients were seen in more than one clinic, so there was definitely a need for it,” says Lindsay Selner, project manager for the center and strategic planning manager for BJC HealthCare. “Eventually, the building grew from being just for the clinics to a multipurpose building.”
The 322,381-square-foot, LEED-certified building, located on the northeast corner of Euclid and Forest Park avenues, contains a primary-care clinic, an OB/GYN clinic, a psychiatry clinic, a surgical and wound-care clinic, and a specialty-care clinic for dermatology; ear, nose, and throat; neurology; neurosurgery; orthopedics; plastic surgery; and urology. There’s even administrative space for BJC HealthCare, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
The clinics’ technology has also vastly improved. “Every room was designed to have a computer and a speakerphone in it, so physicians can chart in the room or patients can use an interpreter if need be,” says Selner. New technology also enables doctors to complete minor surgical procedures, such as a nerve or muscle biopsy done under a local anesthetic. And all of the clinics now have access to clinic pharmacists, social workers, diabetes educators, nutritionists, labs, and radiology.
Selner expects the buildings’ services will only grow in the next year. “As the physicians get comfortable in the new space,” she says, “we’ll start adding more outpatient surgical procedures.”
