Partners In Health

Written by Ann Clark, Nicolas Clark Architects

The Chicago Community is not only busy raising money for a new teaching hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti located just 37 miles northeast of Port au Prince, but several community members are also working on the architectural design and drawings for the hospital.

One of PIH's Chicago Regional Representatives, Ann Clark, and her architecture firm, Nicholas Clark Architects, Ltd. has been collaborating with PIH's Dr. David Walton (originally from Skokie), and dedicated PIH volunteer Jim Ansara, founder and Chairman of Shawmut Design and Construction located in Boston, on the design of the new hospital.

On January 12, 2010, Ann had just left the Shawmut offices having spent the day collaborating with Jim and David in Boston when the earthquake hit. A day after the quake, David and Jim headed down to Haiti to work in Port au Prince to offer their assistance both in the medical arena and Jim offering his expertise getting generators up and running amongst other emergency needs.

It became apparent soon after the quake that the hospital that was on the boards would need to be revisited to accommodate the even greater needs of the Haitian people.

Nicholas Clark Architects continued to work with David Walton and Jim Ansara upon their return to the US to accommodate these additional needs. This effort has required a good amount of flexibility on all members of the team since new programmatic elements were added as they became apparent.

The team has now expanded to include civil, structural, plumbing, mechanical, and electrical engineers, most of who were brought in by Jim Ansara. Clean water specialists from Operation Blessing also joined the team, as did solar panel experts from Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), who have been working with PIH on numerous projects.

The 180,000 square foot hospital will now house the following:

• 300 beds distributed amongst men’s, women’s and children’s wards as well as a women’s health ward
• An Intensive Care Unit and Neonatal Care Unit
• An outpatient clinic that will serve between 400 - 600 people per day
• A women’s health outpatient clinic that will serve between 200 - 300 women per day
• A surgical center with six large operation rooms
• A community health center that will distribute fortified, peanut butter nutritional supplements to malnourished children and families
• An isolation ward for tuberculosis patients
• An expansive pharmacy depot
• Large meeting rooms and conference rooms to be used as classrooms for medical and nursing students, as well as for community meetings and as an administration center

The ward units will incorporate garden courtyards with loggias surrounding the gardens as well.

In addition to the main hospital facility, the master plan for the grounds will eventually include the following:

• Patient/family housing (overnight stays for family members)
• Staff residence to accommodate local Haitian staff as well as visiting staff
• Guest house
• Dining facility to accommodate staff residence and guest housing
• Lying-in center for late term pregnant women who will come prior to due date from distances until they are ready to deliver their babies
• Central administration center

Drawings are nearing completion from all team members, and construction is slated to commence in June.