Here in East Baltimore, the change of leadership at The Johns Hopkins Hospital has generated much excitement—and rightly so. Dr. Redonda Miller’s appointment to succeed me as president of the hospital on July 1 was widely applauded, and she quickly has demonstrated tremendous promise as a vibrant, engaging new leader.
From my vantage point as president of the Johns Hopkins Health System, I can report that The Johns Hopkins Hospital isn’t alone when it comes to exciting new developments. All of our medical centers are either completing or embarking upon noteworthy ventures. Here are a few highlights:
At Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, preliminary plans are now underway for construction of a much-needed new patient tower. Johns Hopkins Bayview is the only major hospital in the Baltimore area without a complement of all-private inpatient beds. We need to change that. An integral part of the planning process includes important discussions about how to better coordinate clinical services across the two academic campuses. Examples of such joint planning efforts include maternal and child services, neurosciences, orthopaedic surgery, and other surgical and medical disciplines.
In the national capital region, great things are happening at both Sibley Memorial Hospital and Suburban Hospital.
Sibley’s magnificent, beautifully designed, 200 all-private-bed medical center—appropriately named the New Sibley—opened in September after three years of construction. Budgeted to cost around $240 million, it likely will come in under budget—something that rarely happens these days! It introduces Johns Hopkins cancer care to the region with a new branch of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, including expanded inpatient oncology units, a pediatric radiation oncology unit and plans for installation of proton beam therapy. In addition, it has a new Women’s and Infants’ Services Department, with 19 private, special care nursery bassinets, an orthopaedic unit with a rehabilitation gym, and integrated technology to improve the patient and visitor experience.
At Suburban, we are planning for a comprehensive physical redevelopment of the medical center and its campus. All of this will be overseen by Suburban’s new president, Jacqueline “Jacky” Schultz, a 30-year veteran of the health care industry, with the last 11 years at Suburban. She served splendidly as interim president for nine months before the Suburban board made her appointment permanent in July.
Just as the academic division is immersed in joint program planning, our National Capital Region Planning Committee, consisting of Sibley and Suburban board members, executive leadership, and representatives from Johns Hopkins Medicine, is also focusing intensely on determining which medical center is best suited to provide various services.
Howard County General Hospital has been inundated with new patients due to the closure of services at Laurel Regional Hospital. Howard County General is now approaching full occupancy on a day-to-day basis. Plans are underway to significantly increase bed capacity and address the substantial need to improve psychiatric facilities.
The last time I visited Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, I looked out of President Jonathan Ellen’s office window and got a bird’s-eye view of the major research building currently under construction there. Five years ago, the desire of the hospital’s trustees to become an academically driven medical center was a main reason behind their agreement to join Johns Hopkins Medicine. Now, an exciting, beautiful new research and education facility will soon be part of their campus—fulfilling that long-held wish.