Published monthly for CC employees by Clinical Center Communications May 1997 |
Parking plan makes the most of what's hereWho's parking where and why are they doing it?The man who built Washington and the Clinical Center,tooFrom the directorWorkingNews briefsGrand rounds |
Work to begin out back for new CC front doorWhen work begins July 1 to make the CC's back door the front, consider the Clinical Research Center project officially under way. "This is the first big step," notes David Esch, architect with Zimmer, Gunsul, Frasca Partnership, design firm for the new complex that will cover the entire north face of building 10 once it's complete early next century. A new glass-fronted lobby to be constructed in front of Masur Auditorium will feature built-in information and security booths and a waiting area with ample seating. A new lobby stairway will go to B1. Visitors and staff will walk into the lobby through a larger-than-life revolving vestibule. A cantilevered roof and canopy will shelter four traffic lanes, three for driving through and dropping off; one for campus shuttles. An existing service road provides a general path for the new driveway, which will be lined to the south with new trees. The road will be extended to loop back down the hill and lead out along the western outer edge of parking lot 10 H. "This made the most sense of all the options considered," Esch explained. "We'll be making use of existing resources while trying to save every single parking space we can." Two main corridors leading from the new lobby to the building's core are planned to the east and west sides of Masur Auditorium. That H-shaped pattern lays the groundwork for straight-shot passage from the south entrance to the new CRC, similar to the way it used to be. "The original Clinical Center building featured a very rational layout," said Esch, characterizing the current layout as "circuitous." Once the CRC is complete, the new south entrance will become the building's primary pedestrian access, which dovetails nicely with the NIH master plan, Esch pointed out. "The idea is that the CC will form the north face of an almost academic quadrangle," he explained, "so the temporary-entrance project becomes a permanent amenity for the campus as a whole, not a throw-away." After CRC construction is complete, the south drive will be for pedestrian and emergency vehicle use only and the canopy will come down. (by Sara Byars) |
Washington builder John McShain (left) was a Republican, but Democratic presidents gave him the most business. A hospital at NIH, which McShain would ultimately build, headed a post-war wish list compiled by the PHS in 1944. Congress had other plans for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's (right) domestic budget. In the meantime, McShain built the Roosevelt library. (Hagley Museum and Library photo.) The Jefferson Memorial, another McShain project, was under construction in 1941. He once said of his work on such structures, "I'd rather break even on a monumental building than make a million on an uninspired warehouse." (Hagley Museum and Library photo.)
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President Truman helped ceremoniously push the Clinical Center cornerstone into place on June 22, 1951. Behind Truman are NIH Director William H. Sebrell, McShain, and Surgeon General Leonard A. Scheele. Doors wouldn't open to patients for another two years when Eisenhower was in office. Eleven years earlier, McShain had joined yet another president-President Roosevelt-in placing the cornerstone for another project, the U.S. Naval Hospital across the street from NIH. Editor's note: Do you know where the Clinical Center's cornerstone is? It was removed on June 14, 1977, when workers on the ACRF addition took it intact from the original front wall and it hasn't been seen since. If you have any information, call CCNews at 496-2563. After a piano fell through a White House floor in 1948, officials admitted an extensive rehabilitation was needed. It fell to McShain to do the work, which included gutting the building core and replacing it with a steel framework. Above is McShain with members of the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion. (Hagley Museum and Library photo.) |
From the director: |
On its last visit to the Clinical Center, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Heathcare Organizations--known as JCAHO or the Joint Commission- -awarded a three-year accreditation to our hospital. Our 1994 accreditation came after a four-person survey team of health professionals spent three days scrutinizing our policies and procedures, visiting patient-care units, and talking with employees from all areas of the Clinical Center. That's what will happen again this year. Why do we seek this accreditation? Because the process offers us a way to evaluate objectively how well we do our jobs. More than 15,000 other health-care organizations across the country seek accreditation for the same basic reason and-in the public's mind-accreditation by the Joint Commission represents quality service in health care. But there's more to it. Preparing for a Joint Commission visit offers us an opportunity to recognize and showcase how we provide quality patient care in a truly unique environment with a distinct clinical research mission. The Clinical Center's JCAHO Work Group, a multidisciplinary team from across the Clinical Center and the institutes, has been pulled together to coordinate efforts in preparation for the accreditation visit. The work group's web site on the Clinical Center's home page will explore important topics associated with the accreditation visit and help keep all of you informed about process. What always is apparent to and commented on by the Joint Commission survey
teams is how committed you, CC staff, are to our patients and our NIH mission.
How we work together to provide this care is what the accreditation team
will evaluate. And when it comes to taking care of patients, no one does
it better than we do. |
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Clinical Center News, Building 10, Room 1C255, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. (301) 496-2563. Fax: 402-2984. Published monthly for CC employees by the Office of Clinical Center Communications, Colleen Henrichsen, chief. News, articles ideas, calendar events, letters, and photographs are welcome. Deadline for submission is the second Monday of each month. Editor: Sara Byars, sbyars@nih.gov. Staff Writers: Laura Bradbard, Sue Kendall. |