Route 1 Hospital Move "Virtually Flawless," CEO Says

As Erica Markee was wheeled through the halls of Princeton Hospital on Tuesday, nurses lined her route, clapping and cheering.

Markee, of Lawrenceville, who delivered son Hayden Samuel Markee via C-section on Monday, was the last patient to leave the hospital on Witherspoon Street and be taken by ambulance to the new hospital- University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro- off of Route 1.

“It’s very emotional,” Hospital President and CEO Barry Rabner said. "You know we’ve been (in Princeton) for 93 years and there are people who have been working here for 20 years, 30 years, one for 56 years. It’s not without its sadness.”

Rabner and others hospital officials were on hand to greet patients as they arrived via ambulance at the new $522.7 million facility in Plainsboro, which broke ground in October 2008 after hospital officials decided they needed a larger facility than could be accommodated on the nine-acre parcel in Princeton. 

The 636,000-square-foot building features 231 single patient rooms on a 171-acre property located between Scudders Mill and Plainsboro roads.

Hospital officials say the new location is closer to 70 percent of the people the hospital traditionally serves, including those in East Windsor, Hightstown, Lawrenceville and South Brunswick.

On Tuesday, medical teams transferred 105 people from Princeton to Plainsboro, beginning at 7 a.m. and finishing at 2:20 p.m., Rabner said.

“It went incredibly well, virtually flawlessly, which is really amazing,” Rabner said. “We had a lot of outside help, we had a lot of practice, so it should go well, but there’s that quote, ‘All good plans end when the first shot is fired.’ There’s reality and you sort of expect there to be some hiccups.”

He said the hiccups never arrived, helped in part to eight months of planning led by Facility Development Inc., of Phoenix, Ariz., which has performed than 200 similar moves.

By 3:30 p.m., not only had all of the patients moved from Princeton to Plainsboro, but 65 patients were treated in the new Emergency Room, two babies born and a C-section was underway. An unplanned surgery “went perfectly,” Rabner said.

“It was amazing to see how excited and how positive all of our staff and physicians were,” he said. “They couldn’t have been more professional, they couldn’t have been more committed to making the transition a success.”

For Erica Markee, her first few hours at the new hospital included taking her firstborn for his first hospital stroll as she tried to acclimate to her new surroundings.

“It looks like a hotel,” she said. “I would want to stay here on a trip if I could. And everyone has been so nice and caring and comforting.”