Portland, Ore.

During the next six weeks, 937 people and almost 200 truckloads of equipment, supplies and material will be relocated to OHSU's new 16-story gateway to care in the South Waterfront central district

Oregon Health & Science University has taken possession from contractors of the Center for Health & Healing, the first new building in OHSU Commons on the South Waterfront, and has begun a six-week process of moving clinical practices, research facilities and people from the university's Marquam Hill and West campuses into the new structure.

The first moves this week start a countdown to the formal opening ceremonies and ribbon-cutting Dec. 3.

The center's first patient will be welcomed early Monday morning (Oct. 23). The patient will zip up to the ninth floor to keep an 8 a.m. appointment with Scott Fields, M.D., professor and vice chairman of OHSU's Department of Family Medicine. Also scheduled to open to patients on Monday are cardiovascular medicine and general internal medicine.

During the next month and a half, 937 people will move in stages into the 16-story, 400,000 square foot building, OHSU's new gateway to health care and centerpiece of a nearly $2.3 billion array of new capital investments in the South Waterfront. Lile International vans will be relocating to the center just under 200 truckloads of equipment, supplies and materials during that period, estimated Pat Ivie, OHSU clinical move coordinator. And that's in addition to the truckloads of new equipment and furnishings that vendors have been hauling into the building since early June.

Accessibility of the center via public transportation from all parts of the metropolitan area will be underscored this weekend with the opening of the extension of Portland Streetcar service to the center's front door at S.W. Moody and Gibbs streets, providing a link to TriMet light rail and bus lines. Streetcar No. 9 - one of the 10 providing service on the expanded line - will be sponsored by OHSU and will bear the OHSU logo under a five-year agreement with Portland Streetcar, Inc.

The ring of public transportation links to the building will be completed early next year when the Portland Aerial Tram opens to the public - it now is more than three quarters of the way to completion.

Twelve floors in the $145 million building will be occupied by OHSU physician practices, outpatient surgery, imaging services and the March Wellness Center. Four floors, or almost 100,000 square feet of space, will be devoted to research, including cancer, orthopaedics, pulmonary medicine, cardiology, and biomedical engineering. OHSU's General Clinical Research Center, Oregon's only multidisciplinary patient-oriented research facility will also be there. A Casey Eye Optical Shop, an OHSU retail pharmacy and the Daily Cafe restaurant will be located on the ground floor. The center's underground garage has 634 parking spaces, 500 for patients and the rest for faculty and staff. The March Wellness Center will be a laboratory as well as fitness center where preventive care and research will intersect in the search for better ways to manage diseases of the 21st century such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and obesity.

The center is unique among medical and research facilities. It is the most energy-efficient, large-scale building in the Northwest and one of the greenest in the world. It's on track to achieve LEED Platinum, the U.S. Green Building Council's highest ranking. Christine Ervin, the first president of the U.S. Green Building Council and a former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, has said the structure "will revolutionize the design of large buildings."

The building is 61 percent more energy efficient than required by Oregon code. It will use nearly 60 percent less potable water than a similar conventional building. One hundred percent of sewage generated in the building will be treated on site. Rainwater and wastewater will be harvested for landscaping, keeping 15,000 gallons a day from reaching the city's overburdened sewer system.

Other innovative features are sunshades that double as solar power generators, the first large-scale on-site micro turbine plant in Oregon for the generation of electricity, natural ventilation, radiant cooling, and the first use in a large U.S. building of chilled beams to replace traditional air conditioning systems.

The team members responsible for design and development of the building are Gerding/Edlen Development, GBD Architects, Hoffman Construction Co., Interface Engineering, Inc., KPFF Consulting Engineers, OTAK, Walker Macy and Brightworks Northwest.

A link to the map showing the location of the Center for Health & Healing is pasted below:

http://www.ohsu.edu/about/chh100506map.pdf