WEST LOUISVILLE, Ky. — From the moment you walk inside, Norton West Louisville Hospital is unlike any other in our city.
For one, it's only two stories, so there's no getting lost and parking is simple. But it's also how it makes you feel, as both a patient and provider.
"People are getting excited. It's almost time," Rachel McCleeary said.
With just days away from the hospital's grand opening, McCleeary might be one of the most excited of the bunch. She's a social worker at Norton Hospital downtown, but on Nov. 11, 28th Street and West Broadway will be her new office space.
"We don't want it to be the normal, sterile environment, too clinical," McCleeary said. "This is really a warm, welcoming environment, because we want to create meaningful relationships with our patients."
Inside the historic hospital
Situated in the heart of West Louisville, it's the first hospital west of 9th Street in 150 years.
This space was designed from the patient's point of view, from the comfy chairs in the waiting rooms, to local artwork, and the first floor cafeteria. There's also an abundance of natural light.
It's the hospital's hope to make you feel more at home. If nothing else, you're much closer to it.
"For some people, that means, quite literally, not having to walk 40 blocks," McCleeary said.
"It's going to be huge. It's going to be life changing. We're cutting down, you know, crucial care time. It takes you at least 15 minutes with traffic to get to the downtown Norton hospital. When you think about the barriers to accessing health care, not everybody has a car, and maybe taking the bus while you are keeled over in exponential pain isn't realistic," McCleeary said.
Norton West Louisville Hospital will have a 24/7 Emergency Department, though major traumas will still go downtown. And just as important, is how this hospital will help reduce the overflow at other hospitals, cutting down on critical wait times for everyone in need.
This hospital will not only significantly reduce the travel time during emergencies, but also for the every day medical needs.
"This is going to be our primary care for pediatrics and adults. So, instead of having to go out into the community and find these services, they are located right here in house," McCleeary said. "You may come back next week for a primary care appointment, and if that's the case, then I can't wait to see you. I want to hear about how things have been and just do an emotional and mental check in, too."
McCleeary said she's fielded a lot of questions from locals about babies.
"We will not have any labor and delivery, but we do have OB here. So, women's health, women's surgery, that's going to be a focus here," she said.
The hospital's home to 20 inpatient beds, with green spaces right outside their window, an intentional design choice to make patients feel less isolated.
"You're taken away from your natural environment. You don't get to see all the green spaces, and so that's something that we find really important to healing," McCleeary said. "Because we know that that's a part of the emotional healing, and you can't physically heal if you're not emotionally healing, too."
McCleeary understands the significance of the hospital's location.
"We know that west Louisville is an underserved, underprivileged community. Hopefully, we're going to see an increase in lifespan. We want to see a decrease in a lot of those chronic diagnoses that this community is experiencing at a much higher rate than the rest of Louisville. And so I understand the purpose of what we're doing at this hospital is much more nuanced and has a potentially greater impact than what we've seen before," McCleeary said.
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