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Independent Financial, a community bank based in Texas and Colorado, has developed many community-based programs over the years, focusing on building healthier, stronger, and more resilient communities. Seven years ago, the financial institution began to participate in meetings with local organizations, including government agencies, healthcare providers, and non-profit organizations, to discuss the specific needs of McKinney, Texas, where it is headquartered. One topic that keeps coming up is healthcare. Kate Perry, Senior Director of the Independent Financial Health Community, said: “There has been a lot of discussion about the need for primary care in the McKinney area, especially for those who are underserved and underserved.”
In the past few decades, although the area of ??North Texas where McKinney is located has grown significantly, there are still gaps throughout the region. The median income of residents in the east of McKinney is half that of the west of McKinney. . In addition, Perry pointed out that the lack of health insurance, the high incidence of chronic diseases and the difficulty in accessing health and dental services have also affected residents. She said: “People drive 15 miles or more to get emergency care because they don’t have immediate care options nearby.”
Driven by these discoveries, Perry said that she started working with James Tippit, the head of an independent finance company, to initiate a project to bring a new medical clinic to the area. Perry said that while the bank is leading the project and providing $2.5 million in funding, its “catalysis work” is working with community organizations (such as the City of McKinney, the Bellescott and White Health Foundation, and Texas). Community foundations) to establish partnerships through financial and in-kind donations.
At the same time, Perry and Tippit started looking for the clinic’s website. Perry said: “In terms of the people we serve, geographic location is important.” In particular, the bank wants the clinic to be located east of McKinney and be easily accessible due to the lack of strong public transportation in the area. A vacant site located between the main road and downtown McKinney can meet these needs. In 2016, the North Texas Family Health Foundation was established as a non-profit entity that owns the site and the 25,000-square-foot clinic building to be built here.
According to the grassroots nature of the project, the task-oriented organization (with 14 clinics in north-central Texas) is a task-oriented organization that agrees to act as an operator and put it in a patient-centered manner. The experience brought to our project’s medical home model (provider rents the building from the foundation).
In terms of design, Perry reached out to the Boston-based company Building Service Association (MASS) Design Team ModelAfter learning about the company’s healthcare work in Haiti, she was quite concerned about it. Although MASS has contributed to more than a dozen medical institutions and laboratories around the world, the McKinney project will be the first project in the United States. David Saladik, the senior principal and design director of MASS (Kigali, Rwanda), said: “This is done by using the built environment and design to provide high-quality care.” “From our global work to the United States, this is really true. A natural transition”
The company was originally recruited for an immersive process, and later evolved into a design architect for a community clinic. Smith Group (Dallas) Assist in architectural design and supervise interior design. As part of the one-year study, MASS spoke with patients and providers and community groups to begin to outline the needs that the clinic can meet. In addition, the company also visited the facilities of the Wichita Community Health Center, met with employees and learned about their operations, working principles, and aspects they hope to improve in the new clinic, such as implementing a pod model to support the team’s The settings that the care provider is based on. Saladik said: “We know a lot about their ambitions for the look and feel of the space.”
Regional style
By 2018, the project team is ready to enter the design phase. Saladik said that the main goal is to “integrate” into the community as much as possible and design a design that is more like a home than a clinic. In order to break down the scale of the facility, the project team took architectural clues from the area, including the Texas Dogrott-style house, which is characterized by multiple buildings connected by a common ventilation duct and roof. The result is a two-tier structure with two tiers, one of which provides clinical services and the other provides community and employee services.
The new family health center in Virginia is named after its location on Virginia Street, and it will provide primary care, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, behavioral health and dental services. Perry said that in addition to improving access to medical services, partners also hope to include wrap-around services to help address other key social determinants of health, such as stable housing and food resources.
Perry said that early research on MASS helped the project team understand possible synergies, such as the clinic being the provider of Head Start.
Saladik said that throughout the indoor environment, the project team tried to change the healthcare experience by rethinking the waiting area as a “different family experience”, such as dining as the center, work as the center, for young people, patients, and The family provides amusement facilities in the center. member.
Furniture and large windows help support the home-like atmosphere and contribute to the goal of a warm and dignified experience, Saladik said. “We don’t want you to walk into a small, stuffy waiting room. We want you to walk into a spacious, comfortable place with natural light.”
In order to support the team-based care model of the clinic, the areas dedicated to primary care, dentistry, medical staff, and education are organized by specialties and are located on the first and second floors, the same as the team-based employee area. Using a steel frame structure, the pods are arranged on a grid for future expansion and flexible use. Saladik said that both floors have a similar design and layout, so if the demand for a service such as dental or behavioral health is unbelievable, clinical staff can enter without the need for large-scale renovations. Adjacent area.
Two sizes of examination rooms are provided, including standard rooms and family-sized rooms, to accommodate patients who go to the clinic with their families. To support collaboration between patients and caregivers, the layout of the examination room allows patients to sit next to their doctor and view the same computer screen. Other features include windows with daylight and flexible examination beds that can support patients to sit up during conversations with service providers. “All these things are important because they really change your view of care,” Saladik said.
In order to increase cross-references between disciplines and eliminate concerns about stigma, behavioral health services have been embedded in the medical field. Perry said: “In this way, no one knows whether you are getting a vaccine or consulting treatment in a specific clinical area.” “These types of design actions are very important to support improved health outcomes and access to medical services in subtle ways.” The clinic also provides space for group planning to support the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and group consultations. Perry said: “The purpose is to provide some purpose-built spaces to facilitate these types of nursing activities.”
For more non-traditional services provided by the clinic, the design team adopted a variety of flexible spaces. On the ground floor, a spacious community room is open to the outside and can be used for various activities, including nutrition classes or food storage. Spaces are also integrated in the waiting area and reception area to support services such as tax preparation or welfare assistance, while the classrooms on the second floor provide training space for medical students and staff.
Bigger picture
The Virginia Family Health Center (designated as a federally qualified health center) was completed in December 2020. Dental services began in January, and the facility is expected to receive medical and behavioral health patients in May after state and federal requirements are completed. Although the COVID-19 pandemic currently has limited community and group activities in the agency, Perry said she has toured with several project partners. “One of our partners said,’This building will help people feel loved’, and for me, it is like that. This is a community place, suitable for everyone.” She said.
Saladik agreed and said that he hopes the project will become a model for future community health projects. “My hope is that as this building begins to be used, it exceeds everyone’s expectations of what they think of the look and feel of a community health center.”
Project details:
Project Name: Virginia Family Health Center
Project completion date: December 2020
Owner: North Texas Family Health Foundation
Total floor area: 25,000 square feet
Total project cost: US$10 million
Chief Design Architect: MASS
Design assistance: SmithGroup, Corgan
Architect of Record: SmithGroup
Interior designer: SmithGroup
General Contractor: Rogers-O’Brien
Engineers: LA Fuess (structure), Cross Engineering (civil engineering), SmithGroup (MEP)
Furniture designer: WRG
Furniture: Herman Miller
Lighting designer: SmithGroup
Anne DiNardo is the executive editor of “Healthcare Design” magazine.You can contact her in the following ways [email protected].
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