Dec. 12-14 Patient Move Completed Safely & Without Snags 

NEW JAMES OPEN FOR BUSINESS AND RUNNING SMOOTHLY

Addressing the more than 500 volunteers who assembled in Meiling Hall on Sunday, Dec. 14, to help move patients into the new James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, OSUCCC Director and James CEO Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, couldn’t conceal his excitement over what he called “an amazing day for all of us.”

Caligiuri said he was “so grateful to all who have come to help us” with the monumental task at hand, which followed some 10 years of planning, designing and constructing the new 21-story, 1.1-million-square-foot, 306-bed hospital.

“All of us have worked so hard to get to where we are today,” Caligiuri said. “Today is all about our patients. As you assist with this move, think of wheeling them not just into a new hospital but across the threshold to a cancer-free world.

“And we’re really getting there,” he added, explaining that more and more people with cancer are being treated as outpatients and fewer are having extended hospital stays as scientific discoveries are being translated to innovative care that leads to better outcomes. 

“Within our grasp is the day when patients won’t be getting moved into a cancer hospital,” Caligiuri said. “So as you help us here today, be inspired, be grateful, be hopeful, and share those feelings with our patients.”

And with that, he asked the volunteers – who included faculty and staff, family members and friends of The James – to report to their assigned areas and await the official 8:30 a.m. start of a move that would take just over nine hours to complete, finishing ahead of schedule and without mishap. 

Caligiuri later reported that the hospital’s 182 acute-care inpatients were moved safely and smoothly into the new hospital thanks to a superbly orchestrated plan devised and led by “an amazing faculty and staff operational team” that coordinated the event from two command centers, one in the original James and one in the new.

He also noted that 39 critical-care patients were moved into the new James on Friday, Dec. 12, bringing the total number of patients moved during the historic weekend to 221. 

“Further, our first week open saw the new James operating rooms, ambulatory clinic spaces, infusion center, imaging suites and radiation oncology center all come on line with no significant issues,” Caligiuri said.

Since the new facility has “millions of moving parts,” he said, several small issues did crop up in the days after the move, “but our James Command Center fielded them on a 24/7 basis and coordinated resolutions.”

Caligiuri reported that nearly all identified issues have been resolved.

“Most importantly,” he added, “I believe our patients are amazed and touched by what the new James offers them both in new technology and in our focus on improving their personal care experience. Our faculty, staff and volunteers continue to help our patients and their loved ones adjust to the new surroundings.”  

Caligiuri praised everyone who assisted with the Dec. 12-14 patient move and the overall transition of operations from the original James to the new hospital.

“I want to express gratitude to all of you for your hours of hard work, patience and cooperation in making this world-class hospital a reality,” he said. “Take a moment to think about what we have accomplished together, especially during the past two years of meticulous planning and preparation for occupying this expansive facility.

“Our new hospital is a transformational facility that stands as the third largest and as one of the most advanced cancer hospitals in the nation – an institution that serves as the model for all 21st century cancer hospitals,” Caligiuri added. “That’s something to be proud of, and I hope your pride is augmented by knowing the importance of the role that you have played not only in bringing it about, but in furthering our vision of creating a cancer-free world.” 


The Dec. 14 patient move was superbly coordinated by James and Wexner Medical Center staff operating in two command centers – one in Room 518 of the original James (above) and the other in the B040 Conference Room at the new James (below). 
  

In a spirited early-morning address, OSUCCC Director and James CEO Michael A. Caligiuri, MD (standing, left), rallies volunteers shortly before the Dec. 14 move of 182 acute-care patients into the new James. 

Kris Kipp, MSN, RN, NE-BC (right), executive director of cancer patient services and chief nursing officer at The James, where he also co-chairs the Transition Steering Committee, helps coordinate the patient move from his command center post in Room 518 of the original James. At left is Rob Hofacre, BSN, MCRP, RN, director of facilities planning and operations at The James. Richard Goldberg, MD, physician-in-chief at The James, is the other co-chair of the Transition Steering Committee.  

James patient Kevin Morkel is en route to his room in the 36-bed Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit of the new James. Accompanying him are Patient Transporter Shannon Constant (pushing wheelchair) and BMT Clinic Nurse Rebecca Ganzon, RN.

James patient Kevin Morkel surveys his spacious and well-equipped private room in the Blood and Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit at the new James. 

A corridor in the new James bustles with activity as transporters move patients into the facility on Dec. 14.  

Some members of the Patient Transport and Patient Experience teams gather on the staircase in the main lobby of the new James during the Dec. 14 move-in day.

Among those who greeted patients being moved into the new James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute on Sunday, Dec. 14, were (from left): David E. Schuller, MD, vice president for medical center expansion and outreach; his wife Carole; Mark Conselyea, MHA, associate vice president of medical center space and facilities planning; Jeff Walker, MBA, senior executive director of The James; Patricia Gabbe, MD; Steven G. Gabbe, MD, CEO of Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center; and Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, director of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and CEO of The James

 The weekend of Dec. 12-14 marked the end of an era for the original James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, which opened in July 1990 and served thousands of patients over nearly a quarter century. The sign above, posted on the fifth floor of the original James, indicates the new home for James Administration.   

A brief Dec. 14 ceremony in the Acute Leukemia Unit on 10 East of the original James saw nurses and other unit staff blowing metaphoric bubbles while listening to an essay by Clinical Nurse Specialist Lisa Blackburn, MS, RN, AOCNS (left, with paper). Her essay invited staff to reflect on their experience and what they had learned in the old unit, and to “blow out your breath through the bubble wand and watch as you release this experience and let it live in the light and the universe.” Blackburn then asked staff to ponder “all that is you that you will be taking with you to (our) new space” and to blow once again through the bubble wand to “see your vision of what comes next as we travel to our new environment.” The ceremony, she says, was designed to “pay tribute to our time spent in our old space and focus on the opportunities that our new space will afford for ourselves, each other, and most importantly our precious patients.”