Nearly 15 years in the making, Saint John’s Health Center announced the completion of its state-of-the-art replacement hospital with the upcoming opening of the 285,000-square-foot Howard Keck Center. Built from the patient’s perspective, the New Saint John’s provides the community with easy access to internationally acclaimed medical care and the latest medical technology in a homelike environment – without having to navigate the labyrinth of a typical, large academic medical center.
“Many hospitals strive to balance clinical expertise with a comfortable intimate healing environment,” said CEO Lou Lazatin. “We believe we have achieved this with our new facility. The opening of the Howard Keck Center culminates our 15-year journey to rebuild Saint John’s Health Center. It also launches a new, technologically advanced era in our 65-year healing mission.”
Physicians at Saint John’s have pioneered medical breakthroughs in cancer, orthopedics, spine women’s health, and cardiac care. But more than training other physicians and being published in major medical journals, their primary focus is on treating patients.
From the state-of-the art, earthquake-absorbing base isolators upon which the hospital is built to the peak of its light-filled, four-story atrium, the New Saint John’s creates a unique healthcare experience. The New Saint John’s features the most advanced technology in the community – such as a 64-slice CT, 3.0 Tesla MRI and modern operating rooms – as well as green technology that allows the hospital to generate 95 percent of its own energy and includes a cooling system that controls temperatures using the buildings’ water system. Other units in the building house Southern California’s newest Emergency Department, one of the nation’s leading cancer centers (affiliated with the globally renowned John Wayne Cancer Institute), high-tech imaging and diagnostic centers and a comprehensive women’s center.