Sharp Memorial tops America's 20 'most beautiful hospitals' list

Gone are the days when the local hospital would be the big brick behemoth in the middle of the city. Today’s hospitals make use of architecture, ambient lighting and landscaping to present a softer, more congenial appearance and put the visitor at ease, thus improving the healthcare experience.

With that in mind, Soliant Health, an Atlanta-based provider of specialty healthcare staffing services and a part of the Swiss-based Adecco Group, has released a list of the top 20 most beautiful hospitals in the country. The second annual poll, conducted among visitors to the Soliant.com Web site, drew more than 10,000 votes and produced two very clear winners.

At the top of the list is Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego. Opened in 2009, the $200 million hospital features, according to Soliant “flowing lines, a curved scroll-style entrance and a multitude of features designed to make a patient’s stay more comfortable, including hospital beds that play lullabies and a jade garden for relaxation.”

Dan Gross, Sharp’s executive vice president of hospital operations, said hospital officials paid close attention to patients and their families in designing a new facility.

"When designing the new Sharp Memorial Hospital, creating an environment that enhanced the healing process for patients and reduced stress for loved ones was at the heart of the design strategy," he said.

David Alexander, Soliant’s president, said Sharp Memorial and the second-place winner, Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital in Detroit, took half of all the votes between them.

"There is so much emerging data around what a beautiful hospital can do for a patient," said Alexander. "Sharp Memorial is the perfect example of what a strategically designed, state of the art hospital can do for the healing process."

Alexander also pointed out that Sharp’s selection to the top spot wasn’t unanimous. One commenter to the survey said the hospital “has an arrogant main entry that doesn’t relate to hospital operations, functionality or patient circulation … an ill thought exclamation mark on a … plain building that provides minimal design interest.” And the hospital was submitted as an “onion” – or an architectural eyesore – in the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s “Orchids & Onions” survey.

Soliant praised runner-up Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital as “a beautiful hospital inside and out.” The organization also pointed out that, according to executive chef Matt Prentice, 99 percent of the items on the hospital’s menu are organic and designed to boost patients’ immune systems and keep their spirits high.

Ranking fifth on the list, Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Ill., was praised for, among other things, its geothermal lake.

“We designed our beautiful new hospital to feature a healing and comforting environment for our patients,” said Linda Deering, Sherman Health’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, in an article in the Chicago Sun-Times. “It exceeds our expectations.”

This is the first year that Soliant used its own Web-based survey to rank hospitals. In 2009 – the first year that a poll was conducted – the organization relied on a survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. Last year’s top entry was John’s Hopkins in Baltimore, followed by Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in Los Angeles and the Providence Regional Cancer Partnership in Everett, Wash.

Proving that beauty truly is a subjective standard, only two hospitals – Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield, Ore., and Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George, Utah – from that list appeared on the 2010 list. And in online comments posted with last year’s and this year’s lists, more than a dozen other hospitals were offered up for inclusion.

The winners of Soliant’s 2010 poll appear on the next page.
 

The winners of Soliant’s 2010 poll are:

1.   Sharp Memorial Hospital, San Diego;

2.   Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, Detroit;

3.   Metro Health Hospital, Wyoming, Mich.;

4.   Union Hospital, Terre Haute, Ind.;

5.   Sherman Hospital, Elgin, Ill.;

6.   St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, San Martin Campus, Las Vegas;

7.   Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh;

8.   Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, Orlando, Fla.;

9.   Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, Williamsburg, Va.;

10.  Providence Alaska Medical Center, Anchorage, Alaska;

11.  Dixie Regional Medical Center, St. George, Utah;

12.  The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland;

13.  Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Monterey, Calif;

14.  Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Roanoke, Va.;

15.  The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston;

16.  Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend, Springfield, Ore,;

17. Woodwinds Health Campus, Woodbury, Minn.;

18. Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, N.Y.

19. Medical University of South Carolina, Ashley River Tower, Charleston, S.C.

20. Clarian North Medical Center, Indianapolis; and University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora, Colo.

Voting begins April 1, 2011 for next year’s survey, with the winners being announced on June 8, 2011.