Hamon Tower

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas opened the Hamon Tower, the largest expansion in the hospital's history, on Oct. 1, 2009. The new medical complex is devoted to intensive care for the region's most critically ill patients.

The 10-story Hamon Tower represents a $220 million commitment to providing quality care and the latest technology for patients at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.

The building, named in honor of Dallas philanthropist Nancy B. Hamon, features 460,000 square feet of new space, with 177 private rooms and a major expansion of the hospital's intensive care units and other critical care areas.

Clinical programs and technological advances are aimed at post-operative intensive care of the most complex cases. The facility also offers advanced medical and surgical care, with telemetry units for cardiovascular, orthopedic and neurology patients.

At its opening, Hamon Tower became the first facility in Texas and among the first in the country to begin using Flash CT, the world's fastest CAT scanner that eliminates the need for some exploratory surgeries and helps doctors diagnose life-threatening conditions in seconds.

The Gift of Health

Note: This information appeared as part of Texas Health Today, a special advertising supplement to The Dallas Morning News.

Jake Hamon's name has long been synonymous with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. After all, the late oilman was one of the hospital's founders. But a few years ago, his wife Nancy wanted to do something more to demonstrate her husband's commitment to the hospital and her gratitude for the care they received over the years.

Nancy Hamon's gift of $10 million was not only the largest single gift ever received by Texas Health Presbyterian Foundation, but also a critical piece for the most aggressive expansion project in the hospital's history.

After three years of construction, the 10-story, 460,000-square-foot Hamon Tower is complete. Representing a continuing commitment to provide quality patient care, the latest technology and innovative design, the $220 million facility is an impressive addition to the Texas Health Dallas campus.

"Hamon Tower marks a new day for the way patients with the most complex medical conditions are cared for in North Texas," says Elizabeth Asturi, M.S.N., R.N., director of critical care medicine and emergency services. "We believe [this] will be the model for 21st-century health care delivery in the Metroplex."

The addition includes 177 private rooms, which are 15 to 25 percent larger than existing patient rooms, offering patients and their families a peaceful and healing environment. With nursing substations between every two rooms, patients are in closer proximity to their caregivers. ICU capacity has nearly doubled, and other critical care areas have been expanded, allowing more patients the comprehensive care they need.

The expansion of critical care areas reflects a new approach to patient care.

Texas Health Dallas was the first major medical center in North Texas to implement an intensivist program, placing the care of critically ill patients under the guidance of board-certified critical care physicians who directly oversee patient care in the ICU around the clock. The expanded intensive care capacity in Hamon Tower means these intensivists — along with specially trained critical care nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants — can provide an even higher level of care for some of the hospital's sickest patients.

"The traditional model is to have critical care physicians on call," says Gary Weinstein, M.D., chief of critical care medicine at Texas Health Dallas and pulmonologist on the medical staff. "Our program now puts an intensivist at the bedside in the intensive care unit, caring for these critically ill, unstable patients throughout the day and ready to address complications that could arise."

The facility also houses expanded lab and diagnostic treatment areas.

In the same year that Texas Health Dallas broke ground on the new facility, the hospital received Magnet status, a national recognition given by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association (ANA). The designation can be considered a stamp of approval, assuring patients that they can expect dedication to better patient outcomes, a shorter length of stay and a higher rate of satisfaction, due, at least in part, to nurses spending more time at the bedside, according to the ANA.

Because nurses are essential to every care team, they were also "an integral part of the design process" for Hamon, says Martha Steinbauer, R.N., chief nursing officer.

To optimize nursing care and improve patient safety, Hamon Tower incorporates the latest technology. For example, an electronic medical record system — already in use throughout the campus — is fully integrated into every aspect of the new building. For medical staff, this translates into more concise and comprehensive patient evaluation and treatment.

Because patients' families often experience as much anxiety about bringing their loved ones to the hospital as the patients themselves, they too were considered during the design process. The hospital's main registration area has been remodeled and new registration areas have been placed among the patient service areas. Two light-filled atria enhance the tower's soothing atmosphere, and a concourse provides easy access to all patient services.

"A high standard of care has been a tradition at Texas Health Dallas for years," Steinbauer says. "That tradition will continue in Hamon, a complex that has the latest of everything in one remarkable building.

"But it's much more than steel, concrete and new technologies. The heart of the tower is the health care professionals who work here and the patients we're so privileged to serve."