This year has been a whirlwind of progression in rural healthcare, with JLG leading the charge on a trio of transformative projects. Our Healthcare studio’s highlights include the June unveiling of the new Anne Carlsen Center in Jamestown, ND, and the August grand opening of the Heart of America Medical Center in Rugby, ND. Looking into the new year, our team is on the brink of completing a landmark project in Grand Forks, ND — collaborating with Altru Health System to design a world-class ‘Care Center in the Park.’ This innovative facility will stand as a holistic healthcare hub, poised to serve Grand Forks and its surrounding rural communities with excellence and compassion. This trio, although vastly different, are aiming for the same, all striving to empower well-being and reimagine rural healthcare.
Altru Hospital
After COVID-19 halted construction, the seven-story, $475 million Altru Hospital was steered back on course, now anticipating a 2025 opening. The new 550,000-square-foot hospital replaces the 1970s hospital located on the same Grand Forks campus. As our Healthcare studio carefully navigated the design and logistical challenges, we expanded the level of care while providing more access to natural light and green space. One of the many underlying goals was to leverage the park setting and prioritize biophilia for the holistic well-being of healthcare staff and patients.
In creating a world-class healthcare delivery system, Altru Health System’s “Care Center in a Park” is designed to embody an environment of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing — all surrounded by beautiful green space, walking paths, and ponds. Here, we led a collaborative and iterative process focused on listening to the needs, wants, and highest hopes provided by the Altru Health System Facility Planning Committee, in addition to addressing their immediate and future facility needs with space to grow.
JLG’s master planning was based on the context of a rapidly changing healthcare environment that balanced future care delivery models with the services and demand that is currently expected from the communities. Through this analysis, our team developed five guiding principles to create a new facility that would further Altru’s mission of providing excellence in healthcare delivery. These principles included being efficient with human and financial resources, prioritizing the patient and family experience, and providing equitable access to the many rural communities it serves, making up approximately 50% of its current patients.
The new Altru Hospital includes:
- Space for 226 licensed patient beds
- A 16-bed observation unit
- An entire unit capable of being operated at negative pressure
- 14 ORs (5 general, 1 trauma, 2 heart, 2 c-section, neuro, ortho, hybrid & robotic)
- State-of-the-art operating rooms for less invasive procedures and faster healing times
- An extra-large trauma elevator and ambulance garage
- Private, daylit NICU rooms
- A Spiritual Center for reflection and prayer
- Private pre/post-operative rooms
- Specialty exam rooms for behavioral health and victims of sexual assault
- New and advanced technologies to shorten or eliminate a patient’s stay and increase
procedure options
Learn more by visiting the website: altru.org/about-us/new-hospital
Anne Carlsen Center
When the Anne Carlsen Center (ACC) first opened in 1941 in Jamestown, ND, its namesake was already a trailblazer in specialized disability care, seeing hope for the future in a way others wouldn’t dare envision. In fact, Anne Carlsen herself was born without hands and feet, yet she went on to attend college and graduate school. From day one, Carlsen’s bold mission meant fostering independence and making the world a more inclusive place through personalized care for children of all abilities, ensuring both educational and medical needs were met.
Now 83 years later, her legacy and hope endure inside the new Anne Carlsen Center Ballantyne Berg Campus — a $59 million family-friendly, live-learn campus designed by the JLG Healthcare studio’s Mark Honzay, AIA, Principal Architect, and Todd Medd, Healthcare Practice Studio Leader, AIA. Inside and out, our teams worked together to reimagine student, resident, and client life while honoring ACC’s mission to improve lives, keep families connected, and provide an inclusive environment where ability overcomes disability.
Learn more by visiting the website: annecarlsen.org
Heart of America Medical Center
On August 27th, Rugby, ND’s Heart of America Medical Center celebrated its ribbon cutting, opening the doors to a 77,000-square-foot critical access hospital designed by JLG Architects, with contractor JE Dunn. JLG’s architectural planning was led by Healthcare Practice Studio Leader, Todd Medd, who grew up in Rugby and was born in the original Heart of America Medical Center. Several other design team members are also from Rugby or connected to the community, including JLG’s Helen White, AIA; JLG’s CEO Michelle Mongeon Allen, FAIA, LEED AP; and the project’s Principal Electrical Engineer, Andy Bartsch of CMTA.
Heart of America Medical Center (HAMC), a non-profit healthcare facility founded by the Good Samaritan Hospital Association, was first built in 1948 to provide medical services to more than 13,000 people within a 50-mile radius of Rugby. The original HAMC was a licensed 25-bed critical access hospital, surgical suite, and nursing facility supported by over 20 area churches of various denominations.
Prior to construction, HAMC worked with JLG on an inclusive design process that investigated how to create a new building that was much more efficient and aligned with modern healthcare delivery models. Due to fragmented additions and the larger, inefficient footprint, HAMC had experienced Medicare reimbursement challenges, as well as ongoing and costly maintenance issues. In 2021, HAMC approved JLG’s plans to build a new critical access hospital.
The new HAMC, located on the east edge of Rugby, incorporates a right-sized space, improved operational efficiency, expanded healthcare services, state-of-the-art healthcare technology, and community-driven amenities to enhance the patient and provider experience. The facility also focuses its footprint on a future of more outpatient versus inpatient services. The overall goal was patient-focused spaces and staff efficiency, leading to a restrained, yet graceful design that is contextually aligned to reflect values that have built the Rugby community. With modernized medical services, patient-focused spaces, and community-inspired gathering areas, the heart of Rugby will soon be Heart of America Medical Center.
“The new medical center recently constructed in Rugby represents the future of rural medicine. It is designed to meet the primary healthcare needs of a rural community with efficient, cost-effective care that will allow for longevity of service. I am extremely proud of what the community of Rugby has accomplished in partnering with our architect group and builders in creating a state-of-the-art facility that will be an archetype for rural primary care.” — Erik Christenson, Pharm-D, MBA, CEO, Heart of America Medical Center
Heart of America Medical Center Includes:
- A cutting-edge hospital and clinic that will help recruit and retain top talent
- Enhanced Surgical Department and Pain Clinic
- A Chemo Infusion Suite that will keep chemotherapy treatment close to home
- A new, residential-style Swing Bed Department known as the Living Center
- An enhanced entrance and a more visible front door
- A Therapy Department and 24/7 Wellness Center that is easily accessible, filled with natural light, and features space for equipment, a walking track, and a pediatric gym
- An enhanced Retail Pharmacy featuring a safe and convenient drive-through window
- A Main Street design for simplified circulation and wayfinding, with a “Grab-N-Go” community café
- Strategically located departments that allow nursing staff to transition quickly from the Emergency Department to Acute Care, and Radiology
- One floor for enhanced safety, security, and cross-department collaboration
- Daylit spaces that promote patient and employee well-being
HAMC Challenges + Solutions
Without the same leverage and capital as larger health systems, HAMC faced barriers in funding and manpower, so this project required a groundswell in the community to build support, starting with the board and community leaders. The new Heart of America Medical Center secured the support it needed from local bankers and businesses that stepped up to ensure success, understanding the long-term impact and how much this community and their surrounding communities needed this hospital to sustain growth and meet expanding healthcare needs.
Within the planning process, HAMC in partnership with JLG, addressed construction cost escalation by locking in USDA funding and financing for the project before inflation could affect interest rates – avoiding rates that would have nearly doubled if the team had waited to proceed.
To ensure project funds were appropriately allocated to meet the needs of both patients and staff, JLG led design workshops, community engagement events, and Virtual Reality (VR) and in-person mockups. This feedback-driven process allowed each department to see inside the design, walk through the new space, and make requests for adjustments before moving into design finalization and construction.
“HAMC is not just a new, cutting-edge hospital for Rugby, in a sense, it’s also a community center, where people can meet in the ‘Main Street’ corridor, grab lunch at the café, or workout at the 24/7 wellness center,” added JLG’s Shauntel Fett. “The new Heart of America Medical Center is a really special and welcoming place that brings the entire community together.”
Learn more by visiting the website: hamc.com
