Rebuilding Project

Specialty Care Tower Designed for Patient Comfort

White Memorial’s new specialty care tower is the only hospital in Los Angeles County, and one of just four in Southern California, to draw from the pioneering Planetree Model of patient care. The Planetree approach — named after the tree Hippocrates sat under when he taught the first medical students in ancient Greece — encourages emotional, spiritual, social and physical healing. It is committed to providing medical care from the patient's perspective; preserving the patient’s dignity and allowing the patient to maintain some control of his or her environment while in the hospital.

It accomplishes this by writing key information about a patient’s care on a board in the room where the patient can see it and understand it. The patient units are more tranquil and quiet to promote healing. Family members are encouraged to visit, and each room has a window seat that converts into a bed, for a family member to stay overnight with their loved one. The rooms themselves are larger, and each has a view of either the downtown Los Angeles skyline, or north toward the San Gabriel Mountains.

A growing body of scientific evidence points to improved patient outcomes and satisfaction as a result of this approach. “There’s nothing more comforting than having your loved one with you in the hospital, particularly at night,” said Lynne Whaley, RN, White Memorial’s Chief Nurse Executive.

	Our new Healing Garden is part of the planetree model, where visitors can relax.

The Planetree model also improves the often noisy hospital environment. “We don’t have an open nurses station as people are used to thinking of,” Whaley said. Instead, nurses do their charting and consult with physicians in a large room on the unit that has doors, to keep noise levels to a minimum. White Memorial also features a state-of-the-art nurse call system, to get nurses into the rooms faster when patients call.

“I’ve been a nurse for more than 30 years,” Whaley said, “and I can’t tell you what this environment is going to do for our patients. It’s spectacular.”