After discussions were had with architects, engineers and developers, it was determined that the cost to renovate the existing hospital, Banner Mesa, was in close relation to the cost to build a new facility. It was then that Banner Gateway began to evolve into a reality. The architects, contractors and Banner's design and construction team began to work diligently on the bricks and mortar and the actuality of building the structure. At the same time, an operations team was assembled to identify the key areas that would need more in-depth planning.

The Gateway Operations (GO) Team included people from all areas with a variety of expertise including Administration, Facility Services, Clinical Staff, Material Management, Security and other significant operational services. The team recognized early on that there were two separate but parallel processes, one for the opening and one for the closure. Below is the summation of a few chosen key areas.

Staffing - One of the major barriers faced was balancing the staffing at the existing medical center to continue providing the community with excellent patient care while planning the 200+ hours of training staff would have to go through to prepare for the transition to a technologically advanced medical center.

Training - Staff training needs were determined based on the new equipment and building structure for the facility they would be moving to. Training was needed on hundreds of pieces of equipment, such as beds, interactive TV system, pneumatic tube system and telephones, way finding, life safety plans and more. Staff, including physicians, also needed to be trained on the new electronic medical records.

Culture - Our culture was similar to a family that had grown up in the same place for 40 years, some being there for their entire career. They parked in the same place, had the same daily routine and were very comfortable in the environment. During the move, our employees had to experience a complete change of environment, routine and job. Uniforms to project a more professional image as well as a smoke free campus were just some of the more challenging changes we experienced.

Building activation/deactivation operations - This area required the most parallel planning of any other because it touched every entity within the house. A plan was developed for maintaining and operating all departments in the existing medical center and preparing for deactivation while the same departments were working together for the activation of the new medical center. Deactivation included developing a wind down plan to ensure patient safety while allowing us to reduce our number of patients and services for the 90 days prior to closure. We also had to publicize the closure to the community in a timely manner per state regulations. Existing contracts for vendors had to be terminated and new contracts put into place. Every physician also had to be credentialed again and could not just move from the existing medical center.


On September 18, 2007 the day we had planned so diligently for had finally arrived. The last patient was discharged at 8:15 a.m. and the first patient was admitted at 8 a.m. And it was a WRAP, we had readily anticipated patients successfully.
This just touches the detailed planning that was required to complete such a complex journey. Other key areas the presentation could include are regulatory readiness, moving logistics, information technology, security and opening/closing day specifics as well as recommendations based on the lessons learned.