Northern Light Blue Hill Hospital is a new acute care facility designed to meet the needs of the Blue Hill community for many years to come. The Northern Light Health leadership and the WBRC team collaborated with the community to design a facility to replace the existing aging hospital, providing high-quality patient care in a sustainable, accessible, technology-enable environment.
Inpatient care, 24/7 emergency services, lab, X-ray, MRI, and CT imaging, and specialty care are all part of this important community resource. The full-service emergency department includes five rooms and a triage room. The hospitals 10 inpatient rooms are all private and include a bathroom with shower. The rooms feature up-to-date technology, infection prevention enhancements, and ample space for the care team.
A hospital is a vital presence with a significant footprint in any small community. The team was careful to choose an exterior design that harmonized the neighboring residences in this historic coastal Maine town. The simple, clean, single-story design includes a pitched roof with a cupola skylight, a nod to the community’s seafaring heritage.
Inside, colors, fabric, and textures all evoke nature while providing a positive yet soothing palette to promote healing. Ample natural light reduces the need for artificial light while keeping inhabitants connected to changing light throughout each day. Every patient room has a large window with a view out to the water. Welcoming colors, wood accents, and soft furnishings all work together to create a sense of positive calm.
The needs of the community were a focal point throughout the design and construction process. This includes making sure a café was part of the space plan, something important to the community. Portions of the concrete demolition were reused as fill for the new parking lot. This reduced both costs and heavy equipment traffic. The hospital also put in a dedicated sidewalk pathway along the parking lot so community members could continue its tradition of traversing the hospital campus to get to the town park.
As part of this project, the existing Sussman Medical Office Building on campus underwent renovations to improve outpatient services, providing a similar care environment to the new hospital. The Sussman MOB renovations included upgrades to primary care services, outpatient imaging, outpatient rehabilitation/physical therapy, and selected specialty services, as well as an improved reception and waiting room experience.