Hospital in the new era

Since we were not that very impressed with the last hospital we gave birth in, we decided to choose the hospital first and then the OB for our second child. Living in Frisco, we had mainly 3 choices: Presby Plano, Baylor Medical center of Frisco, and Centenial. They all of their perks, but Baylor Frisco REALLY stood out to us. We have heard great things from physicians about it. And we were ever so impressed by the helpful "concierge" they have working there full-time. She is always ethusiastic and answered all of our questions. She was also responsible for introducing us to our wonder OB - Dr. Welborne.

During our nine months of pregnancy, we kept hearing about a celebration dinner that consists of steak and lobster for the new parents. Come to find out, that was probably my least favorite part of the hospital. However, just about everything else exceeded our expectations.

Staying/recovering at Baylor Frisco was absolutely great. As great as a hospital stay can ever get. From the friendly/knowledgible staff to the beautiful facilty (though not my style), I found myself wanting to stay longer at times... :-) Because we are cool, we were upgraded to a suite for free (I was told). It had 2 flat screen LCD TV's, a sleeper sofa, great decor, spacious bathroom, and even a webcam for us to get in touch with people over the net! It is amazing how much hospitals are like hotels nowadays. Other than seeing the medical equipment, I barely feel like I was in a medical facility. The word "HOSPITALity" now applies.

Being an architect, I paid attention to everyone of these architectural details. I have always told myself I would stay away from medical architecture. I have always thought that those buildings are boring and ugly. Well my feelings has changed. Most medical clients have very deep pockets and are very focused on building a good building. The fact that they study hotels as precdents for hospitals intrigue me. Hopefully I will get to design in the near future.