St. Michael’s Kidney Care Centre

With the continued growth in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in the Greater Toronto Area, St. Michael’s Hospital identified a need to establish an independent community satellite hemodialysis facility to provide capacity and access for dialysis patients in a suburb outside the downtown core.  The vision was to design a facility, with consideration for local health system integration and priorities, that would offer a full continuum of dialysis care ranging from full care to assisted hemodialysis and progression to home-based treatments.

NORR worked in collaboration with multiple medical professionals and technicians from St. Michael’s to design a 19,300 square-foot ambulatory facility, located within a community shopping center. The design embraces an open and welcoming space that incorporates organic and natural elements and green materials and products to support the health and well-being of patients and staff. The workflow design was a primary focus to ensure staff efficiency and patient safety. The space provides accessibility and support to patients with different functional requirements.

St. Michael’s Kidney Care Centre is a true patient-centric design.  It features 21 treatment stations located close to the main entrance, six training stations for Home Dialysis care and five exam rooms. The clinical spaces are located on the building’s perimeter to allow natural light to flow into the treatment space.  The individual patient stations are configured to provide staff excellent visualization of each patient during treatment. Retractable privacy screens between each bay provide privacy without compromising the openness of the space or access to natural light. A centrally located nursing station in the treatment area provides a clear line of sight to patients, and the nurse clinical touchdown locations have been situated to provide suitable visibility and proximity to each treatment station.  The design provides private rooms for treatment, transition, patient training, conferences, offices and back of house service spaces; to create a fully functional satellite facility.

Together, NORR and the St. Michael’s hospital team created an independent community hemodialysis facility that meets the requirements to provide kidney care in a specific suburb of Toronto.