A topping-off ceremony for the $165 million Phase II campus transformation was held Tuesday at Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital.
The overall transformation, at a cost of $250 million, will include a 90-bed Patient Pavilion with private rooms that’s slated to open late next year.
The hospital, which opened in 1960, saw the final beam on the Patient Pavilion put into place at the ceremony. The first phase was completed in 2017 and included a new hospital atrium lobby, medical office building and parking facility.
Those in attendance Tuesday included dignitaries and elected officials such as Jefferson Health New Jersey President Joseph W. Devine, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D-Voorhees) and Cherry Hill Mayor Chuck Cahn.
The Phase II project consists of:
- A new, seven-story, 238,224-square-foot Patient Pavilion with all private rooms;
- Individually operated patient room controls for temperature, shading and lighting;
- A new hospital pharmacy and dietary services that include a new kitchen and dining spaces;
- New inpatient and outpatient diagnostic services department;
- A design that incorporates the existing hospital and new hospital lobby;
- Shell space for future surgical services on the second level;
- Critical care patient unit on the third level, including 30 patient beds;
- Acute care patient units on the fourth and fifth levels;
- Shell space for a future 30-bed patient unit;
- A mechanical “penthouse” to house utilities and services for building functions;
- A helistop for urgent patient transfers.
Trees like the pine tree on the beam are known as “topping trees,” and celebrate the completion of the “skeleton” of a structure. For skyscrapers, the tree is attached to the top beam as it is hoisted, a signal that the building has reached its final height.
