Pipestone County Medical Center & Family Clinic - Avera is a Critical Access Hospital located in the rock quarries of southwest Minnesota. They offer a complete range of inpatient and outpatient services and are affiliated with Avera Health and Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Through the infrastructure assessment and facility master planning process, Pipestone County Medical Center realized they had an aged building and a lagging business model that needed to be updated to meet next-generation healthcare standards and continue to deliver exceptional care to the community Pipestone and the surrounding region.
Pipestone County Medical Center & Family Clinic partnered with Wold to reimagine what their campus needed to become to remain an independent healthcare provider for its community. Together with operational leaders, department directors and frontline staff, Wold’s healthcare team planned a completely reorganized campus that focused on patient-centered care, maximizing utilization of all outpatient and clinic spaces and creating a community hub for health and wellness.
The outcome of the collaborative planning and design process is a three-story expansion that combined the two existing entrances to the hospital into a single main entrance for the hospital and clinic, and a new single-story inpatient and birthing care unit with private patient rooms and a rooftop helipad. The new building ties together the various building facades spanning 50 years, to create a unified appearance of brick, local quartz and reflective glass that symbolizes the high quality of care and technology that is provided within. Finishes and colors are drawn from the surrounding nature of the Pipestone area. The deep rich red of the actual pipestone, found in the nearby National Monument, provided a grounding of warmth, while soft aqua green, contrasts and soothes, much like the local streams and waterfalls. Tiles mimic the look of nearby limestone outcroppings, and the carpet is patterned after area prairie grass.
Pipestone County Medical Center has received an overwhelmingly positive response from their community. The providers and staff have an increased sense of pride in the facility, and operations are more efficient and functional than ever. Upon completion of the project, the residents of this rural community of just over 4,000 people came together to cast more than 2.3 million votes to nominate the project for Soliant Healthcare’s award for Most Beautiful Hospital. This commitment to community pride is evident not only in pursuit of this award, but also in the unique project outcomes collaboratively designed with their many community stakeholders.