MARQUETTE — The new UP Health System-Marquette campus is about five weeks from opening and the excitement over the new facility is growing.

What sort of changes will the community see with the new hospital?

“The biggest thing, I think everyone agrees, is how much easier patient and visitor way-finding will be,” said Victor Harrington, Regional Director, Marketing and Business Development for UP Health System. “The new hospital is designed with the patient in mind. You’ll walk into the main entrance and be able to get anywhere you want to go.”

The main east-west corridor is all glass, two stories high, Harrington explained.

“That means there is 30 feet of natural light when you walk in,” he said. “And there’s easy access to the Bistro on Baraga, the physicians’ offices, the lab, imaging, the emergency department … it’s all accessible readily.”

The new hospital is readily visible from U.S. 41.

“The new hospital is located right off the bypass,” Harrington said. “It’s part of the skyline as you enter Marquette. It will become familiar to people from all over the Upper Peninsula when they visit Marquette. The current hospital you don’t see unless you go looking for it.

“The new location naturally creates top-of-mind awareness and will be much easier for everyone to find.”

And when they find the new UPHS-Marquette facility, patients will be in a state-of-the-art hospital.

“Everything in the new hospital will be the latest and the greatest,” Harrington said. “The imaging is all new, new CTs, new MRIs, new ultrasound. Not only will the images be better quality, there will be faster turnaround time for patients to get results.”

Cath labs will now be adjacent to the operating rooms, which will be a tremendous improvement for both patients and medical staff, he said.

In a huge change, each patient will have his or her own room.

“Single-patient rooms is a big change,” Harrington said. “Every patient bed is in a private room which is key for privacy and confidentiality. And the views are spectacular.”

With patients from around the peninsula being transported by helicopter to UPHS-Marquette, the new set-up for the helipad is crucial.

“The proximity of the helipad to our Level 2 Trauma unit is perfect. The helipad is located right next to the emergency room. We have about 25 inbound patients by helicopter each month. So having it directly next to the ER with the heated sidewalk right there will be an upgrade,” Harrington said.

UPHS-Marquette has always had high quality staff who will now be in a facility that’s top notch, too.

“We truly see this hospital as an asset to the entire U.P.,” Harrington said. “We will be offering complex services not available anywhere else in the U.P., so we’re happy to have this hospital for all the U.P. communities. It’s an asset for everyone.”

June 2 is the big day, the official open date for the new UPHS-Marquette facility.

“That’s a Sunday. We are going to move all the patients that day. We will start early in the morning and they will be taken by ambulance the 1.4-mile route as we become operational that day. I can’t wait.”

Another improvement to note is an aesthetic change, Harrington said.

“We have made an investment in art for the new hospital. We have tremendous work from local, regional and national artists. We have commissioned some amazing pieces,” he said. “We are working to create a calming, comfortable, healing environment. Being in a hospital can be stressful and we made this investment with patients and visitors in mind.”

UPHS-Marquette also will have a rotating public art program, in which local artists will be able to display their work on five of the floors of the new hospital, affording them the chance to have the public see their art.

“We’ve always known we have great people, our experts,” Harrington said. “In recent years, our quality scores have risen. Now with the new facility, we can bring it all together, the best people, the best facility.”

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