Big changes have taken place at HCMC! New, modern signage has been installed that is helping patients, families, and visitors find their way more easily and successfully around our campus. Here are links to the new HCMC Way to Go maps!

New “Way to Go” wayfinding project makes getting there easier

for HCMC patients and visitors.

Colorful, modern, informative, and comprehensive. These are just some of the elements

of the new ”Way to Go” wayfinding system that has been installed throughout the HCMC campus recently. The new “Way to Go” system replaced the hospital’s old signage and room numbering, much of which dated back to 1976, the year HCMC was built. First, a

little background:

Why there was a need for change

North and South Blocks. A, B, and C Buildings. Medical Specialty Center. Caf-A on 3rd, 45M, and A6/B6. These names and locations are meaningful to us as employees, but they aren’t very helpful to patients and visitors trying to navigate their way around HCMC – especially when you consider that hospital services are provided in five very different buildings over three city blocks!

Think about how many times patients or visitors have asked you or a colleague for directions. You’ve probably tried hard to give an informative, meaningful answer, only to find yourself saying in the end, “Come with me. It’s easier for me to show you than to tell you.” It’s not that your directions weren’t good, but our campus layout is complex and adequate signage might not have been there along the way to support your directions. Even our Hennepin County commissioners have heard from their constituents who were frustrated with not being able to find their way around HCMC.

No one realized the need for a comprehensive wayfinding signage system at HCMC more than Dan Wichman, associate administrator for Facilities Services. “When HCMC purchased the A, B, and C buildings from the former Metropolitan-Mt. Sinai Medical Center

in 1991, the two facilities were never fully integrated in terms of room numbering,” Wichman said, “and our overall signage system has been inadequate to guide patients

and visitors through our complex campus. What we’ve really needed and wanted to implement is a consistent, comprehensive wayfinding system – overhead signage, directories, room numbering – to help patients find it easier to get to their destination within the hospital.” But for a number of reasons, he noted, this project had to be

put on hold in recent years.

The time was right for “Way to Go”

The new “Way to Go” wayfinding system might still be on the drawing board were it not

for a related and timely county initiative. Several years ago, Hennepin County funded an accessibility improvement project to bring its public buildings into better compliance with guidelines established by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Improvements have already been made at many of the county’s buildings. Among the ADA accessibility improvements to be made at HCMC are installing lever handles on doors instead of knobs, and installing room numbering signage that is tactile and includes Braille.

“However, this improved room signage would have been just one component of the consistent, comprehensive signage system that was needed here at HCMC for patients

and visitors,” noted Wichman, who has headed the HCMC wayfinding project. “Fortunately, we were able to go back through county Property Services and get approval to look at this project more on a ‘system basis’ at HCMC. That resulted in our being able to include new directional signage [overhead signs and directories] as well as the new ADA room signage.” Capital funding for the project has come from the county, not from medical center resources; the project consultant is Visual Communications of St. Paul. The installation process was overseen by Wichman along with Ken Beitler, special projects coordinator for HCMC Administration.

“Way to Go” Strategies

Along with improving ADA accessibility, the primary objective of the new “Way to Go” wayfinding project is getting patients and visitors to their destinations as easily as possible. To accomplish this objective, Visual Communications recommended the following strategies:

· Buildings/areas zoned by color, which has been used successfully in other hospital settings.
· New directional signage and consistent room numbering system among HCMC’s five uildings.
· Renumbering and alignment of floor levels to unify HCMC’s five buildings.

Hospital and patient information brochures and other educational materials were revised

to reflect and support this new color-coding and room numbering system. Public Relations worked with department managers and supervisors to inventory all print materials that contained location information so that the appropriate changes could be made and materials re-printed in a timely manner.

Project received multi-disciplinary support, input

Many organizations and individuals deserve recognition for their support and efforts on behalf of the new wayfinding project, Wichman says. These include Hennepin County,

which funded the project, the commissioners who supported it, consultants at Visual Communications, and the Wayfinding Steering Committee members who represented

many areas of the hospital, including physical therapy/occupational therapy for the ADA component of this project, nursing, Office of the Medical Director, multi-cultural health center, public relations, allied health, facilities management, information desks, and more.

“These decisions were not made lightly or quickly,” said Wichman. “The Wayfinding

Steering Committee met with the consultants regularly and considered all the options. Thanks to everyone’s dedication and input, our new wayfinding system is much more patient focused, reliable, and user friendly for patients and visitors coming to our facility

and navigating through our buildings. They are the ones we want to serve and benefit.”