Hoag’s Sun Family Campus means more beds, more specialization

Hoag’s answer to modern healthcare involved tapping into Irvine’s suburban-village feel.

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“It’s science-based hospitality,” Hoag Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Marcy Brown said during a recent tour of the new $1.2 billion expansion of the Hoag Hospital Irvine Sun Family Campus that will be open to the public for tours on Saturday, Sept. 19.

“When you blend these elements of feeling, you blend elements of healing, natural daylight, the gardens, it actually speeds inpatients’ recovery. It’s proven science,” Brown said. “And so we were very, very intentional about designing these spaces, and you’ll see that as you walk through it.”

The completion of the campus brings Hoag’s presence in Irvine to six new buildings and 155 inpatient beds, which will finish opening to the public by the end of the month, hospital officials said.

Construction also expanded Hoag’s surgical services, with 24 new intensive care rooms, two procedure rooms, eight operating rooms and one for highly complex cardiovascular and vascular procedures.

The most recent components of the campus buildout — the Women’s Outpatient Pavilion and Women’s Hospital and the Cancer and Digestive Hospital with its Cancer and Digestive Outpatient Pavilion – feature the same earthy and coastal tones that ties the rest of the campus together.

But their specialty care offerings are designed to ease the road specifically for patients on cancer journeys or dealing with digestive health diagnoses and to address the healthcare needs of women of all ages as well as their newborns.

Beginning with the Women’s Outpatient Pavilion, the newly constructed specialty care facility features a breast center that includes an on-site MRI, seven mammography suites, six ultrasound suites, a surgical clinic and 29 women’s health exam rooms.

“Whether you’re checking in for your mammogram or checking in to see the surgeon, it’s all here. One stop for all your breast care needs,” Brown said, adding the women’s outpatient hospital was meant to feel like a “day spa.”

The women’s inpatient hospital next door includes operating rooms for C-sections and 24 private labor, delivery and postpartum suites.

All of the birthing suites are private and have their own rain shower and laboring tub that can remain open to the room or can have a privacy window closed.

“So for the women, they can labor in the tub, they can labor in the rain shower and also not feel separated from their caregiver team or their family members if they’re in here with them when they’re laboring,” Brown said.

Those staying control the room’s lighting and temperature and the couch pulls out into a bed for comfort. Equipment that might be needed during a birth is kept in the room, but is designed to be out of sight until needed.

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Technology is incorporated into the space for video conferencing with doctors.

Rooms are set up for babies, even multiples, to stay with their parents, and there is a 17-bed Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU, with private rooms for the families.

Between its two Orange County campuses in Newport Beach and Irvine, Hoag delivers close to 9,000 babies annually — the largest volume of baby deliveries in the state of California, Hoag said.

The idea with this hospital, Brown said, is to take pressure off of Hoag’s Newport Beach department and also attract more patients.

“So we’re anticipating all the births from the zip codes from South County will want to repatriate here and come out of Newport Beach,” Brown said, adding Hoag’s Sun Family Campus expects to “pull all the way from Camp Pendleton.”

Hoag anticipates 12,000 annual births by 2028 between Irvine and Newport Beach.

Also joining the existing Hoag Hospital Irvine and Hoag Orthopedic Institute is the new Cancer & Digestive Hospital, which includes 70 inpatient rooms that, like the birthing suites, offer comfort options and let in lots of natural light by opening up to views of an outdoor courtyard.

The campus features 3,600 square feet of outdoor spaces, including two outdoor courtyards with walking paths and water features between the two new specialty centers that add a serene, calming space.

The Cancer & Digestive Outpatient Pavilion includes 42 private infusion rooms, 31 oncology exam rooms, six advanced GI procedure rooms, a specialized oncology pharmacy, a satellite lab and what Hoag boasts is the county’s first dedicated Cancer Urgent Care.

“They’re all private,” Brown said of the infusion rooms. “(That) is important when you want to take a nap, so many infusions can be over four hours. So, to have that privacy, be able to have your family or visitor or friend with you while you’re being infused.”

An underground network connects the pavilions for women’s health, cancer, and digestive health to the hospital and surgical pavilion.

“For eight years, we picked out everything. Every light fixture, all of it,” Brown said of the new campus. “It was a team. We never missed a meeting.”.

Hoag Hospital Irvine will be holding a free grand opening event, “World of Wonder,” on Saturday, Sept. 19, and Sunday, Sept. 20, during which the public can tour the Sun Family Campus. Sign up for the waitlist  at hoag.org/wonder.

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