Completion of the UCLA Westwood Replacement Hospital is being
delayed three to four months in order to accommodate recent
advancements in medical technology.
Originally scheduled for completion in 2004, construction of the
hospital, which will be named after former President Ronald Reagan,
is expected to be finished in the spring of 2005.
“We’re always being confronted with the need to
incorporate the most advanced and recent medical equipment,”
said Alvin Lee, project director of the replacement hospital.
Lee said the replacement hospital is in a unique position to
deal with technological advances because it is dealing with complex
areas like artificial hearts and other medical procedures.
He added that the hospital is gaining high tech radiology and
operating equipment that was not previously available.
While hospital developers tried to plan for advancements in
technology during the initial planning process six years ago,
medical innovations have jumped so far that delays are necessary,
Lee said.
Portions of the building are going to be finished in the fall
and winter of 2004 and may even be put to use before the rest of
the building is completed.
Lee said while an extra cost is involved in any extension,
“it doesn’t do any good to put in anything that is
obsolete. That’s the price to pay for advancement.”
Construction to the hospital began roughly three and a half
years ago.
It will include a children’s hospital, 525 patient beds in
addition to 65 observation beds and a neuropsychiatric
hospital.