In 2008, San Franciscans voted to convert a green space on the campus of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center into a new, state-of-the-art acute care and trauma center. Passing with an overwhelming majority, the REBUILD team got to work designing the innovative new building that would better meet the needs of a growing city. And the Foundation began an impressive $141 million campaign to equip this new hospital with the tools it would need to meet the moment.
Rising quickly along Potrero Avenue, the new hospital was completed in 2015, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark this impressive feat.
After months of planning and with the help of an incredible team, ZSFG moved over 200 patients from the old wards to the new units on May 21, 2016. Wheeling beds, carts, and supplies alongside the patients themselves, health care continued as usual, with the Family Birth Center welcoming its first birth and the Emergency Department accepting its first ambulance.
LEVEL 1 TRAUMA CENTER
This new acute care tower and trauma center created more space for individualized care across the hospital’s inpatient units. The Emergency Department, divided into four pods with centralized nursing stations, allowed for 58 individual rooms that promote more responsive care. Another addition to the trauma center was the dedicated space for an MRI and CT scanners near the resuscitation rooms, allowing the city’s only Level 1 trauma center to quickly provide life-saving diagnostics in moments of crisis.
The addition of a pediatric pod and waiting room in the emergency department, featuring a colorful mural by local artist Sirron Norris, created a dedicated space for our youngest patients.
MEDICAL AND SURGICAL CARE
The new 9-story building, with two sub-terreanean floors built for 13 operating rooms and other specialty care, became home to all inpatient care at ZSFG. From the Family Birth Center with large suites and birthing tubs, as well as a dedicated operating room, to the Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) unit, the beautifully designed unit hosts 284 light-filled, single-occupancy patient rooms. With stained glass hallways and San Francisco Arts Commission Permanent Collection hung on the walls, Building 25 became an environment suited for true healing.
INTENSIVE CARE UNITS
With several dedicated intensive care units (ICUs) at the ready, ZSFG was critical to the city’s response to the COVID-19 Crisis. Flexible rooms and integrated equipment allowed the teams to safely care for the sickest patients in the early days of the pandemic.
BUILT TO LAST
The building itself became the first hospital to use a base-isolated foundation, preparing ZSFG to actually shift during major seismic events, thus ensuring the new hospital could withstand future earthquakes and remain operational during a citywide disaster. A LEED Gold-certified space, the new hospital also boasts a rooftop labyrinth garden.
10 years later, the new state-of-the-art hospital has enabled ZSFG to care for over 1 million San Franciscans, ensuring that every person receives the care they deserve.
