In November 2014, Torrance Memorial Medical Center opened the Lundquist Tower—a seven-story, 390,000-square-foot, $480 million healthcare facility designed to meet the community’s wellness needs for years to come. As the hospital prepares to celebrate the Lundquist Tower’s 10th anniversary, the facility continues to provide a healing environment where members of the South Bay community can receive advanced, compassionate care.
“From design to occupancy, the Lundquist Tower project was seven years in the making,” says Connie Senner, who has served as director of construction at Torrance Memorial Medical Center for 23 years. “We knew we needed a new building that met state requirements for earthquake safety, but we also wanted to create a space that would allow Torrance Memorial to raise the bar on patient experience and state-of-the-art clinical care.”
According to Senner, one of the first priorities was upgrading from double-occupancy to all-private patient rooms. “From a clinical standpoint, private rooms addressed our needs for infection prevention and privacy. But from a patient experience perspective, it allowed us to create a more comfortable, private and restful environment for patients and their families.”
A Team Effort From Start to Finish
After deciding on the best location for the new tower—at the site of a former medical office building on the hospital campus—the team began making plans to acquire the building, increase parking, develop a budget and decide on the project’s guiding principles.
“We knew our clinical team members needed to be involved in the project design from the beginning,” says Senner. “Every other week for a year, we held design meetings that included members of our medical/surgical, progressive care, ICU, imaging, nursing and surgical teams—so everyone could give their input to ensure clinical and workflow needs were being addressed.”
“We really focused on creating workflows and spaces that supported the kind of care we wanted to deliver—especially for our nurses,” says Zachary Gray, MD, chief medical officer at Torrance Memorial.
After the building design was finalized, documents were submitted to the state for approval. In the meantime, Senner and her team took the building plans and created a 3D model of the tower’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Throughout the process they worked to keep staff, physicians, volunteers and the community updated on the tower’s progress.
“We went out in the community and talked about the project,” says Senner. “We also sent weekly emails to the Torrance Memorial team and created a series of 32 construction update videos.”
In 2013, Melanie and Richard Lundquist donated $50 million to the project—demonstrating their commitment to supporting enhanced access to advanced health care in the South Bay.
A Seamless Transition
When the Lundquist Tower opened—at a remarkable $10 million under budget and six months ahead of schedule—the staff, patients and community were ready. “We spent a year planning for our transition to the new facility,” says Senner. “After our transition plan was approved by the California Department of Public Health, we conducted three months of staff education to test workflows and ensure the process went smoothly.”
On November 16, 2014, Torrance Memorial team members moved more than 150 patients to the Lundquist Tower, and they haven’t looked back since. “The Lundquist Tower is representative of how Torrance Memorial has evolved and adapted to new technology and patient needs to create an environment where patients and team members can thrive,” says Senner.
“Torrance Memorial has always been able to punch above its weight class in terms of patient experience and comfort,” says Dr. Gray. “The Lundquist Tower represents one more way the hospital can outperform on these levels.”
The success of the Lundquist Tower is due to the power of its people, including (from left) Jaleesa Amezaga, RN; chief medical officer Zachary Gray, MD; president and CEO Keith Hobbs; director of construction Connie Senner; volunteer Lori Haig; and Tracy Bercu, MD.
Leaping Into the Future
Building from scratch made accommodating the newest imaging and operating room technology easier, allowing Torrance Memorial to leap ahead and still have room for future expansion.
“The Lundquist Tower is a dynamic addition to our regional medical center. And as a result, our patients can receive all the care they need right here without traveling outside the South Bay,” says Keith Hobbs, Torrance Memorial president and CEO. “During COVID-19, we were able to scale up to meet patient demand, and we recently opened a new interventional radiology suite to provide increased access to specialized care. But best of all, we still have the capacity for growth as the needs of our community evolve.”
“When you make this type of investment in a health care facility and revisit it over the years, there are sometimes things you might wish you would have done differently,” says Senner. “But thanks to the efforts of our entire team, the Lundquist Tower still feels timeless. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years.”
