Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla has opened a new $664 million North Tower; a major expansion that adds 188 inpatient beds and advanced care facilities to the San Diego campus.

The 420,000-square-foot building, which took eight years to plan and construct, includes services for mother-baby care, cancer, stroke, neurology, orthopedics, spine and trauma. The facility began operations with the transfer of 130 patients, including newborns and pregnant women, from the adjacent Browning Building through enclosed walkways.

The Palo Alto, California-based health system said the eight-story tower is now home to 96 adult medical-surgical beds, nine operating rooms (two with robotic systems), an enhanced imaging center, and interventional and neurointerventional radiology suites. The building also features an upgraded air filtration system that Scripps says is the first of its kind on the West Coast.
“This latest investment in patient-centered care will be a place of healing for generations to come,” said president and CEO Chris Van Gorder.

Mother-baby services occupy three floors and include 18 labor and delivery rooms, two cesarean section operating rooms, and 24 neonatal intensive care beds, which continue to be operated in partnership with Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego. About 3,200 births occur annually at Scripps La Jolla.

The North Tower is also equipped with private rooms, decentralized nursing stations, and a wireless infrastructure to support clinical, enterprise and consumer technology. A rooftop helipad connects directly to the Barbey Family Emergency and Trauma Center via priority elevators.

A $2.5 million donation from philanthropist Barbara Smith funded the ground-floor cafeteria, named for Smith and her late husband. The opening of the North Tower is part of a 25-year campus master plan launched in 2010 that has included other major projects such as the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute and a centralized energy plant.

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