Printer Friendly Page

Walk Me Through it
One More Time
by Maryann Brinley

William N. Hait, MD, PhD, director of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and associate dean, Oncology Programs, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The design and construction team for the new wing of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey - a five story, 150,000 square-foot expansion which tripled the size of the original building in New Brunswick and opened last May - heard these words so often, they could finish the sentence for CINJ Director William N. Hait.

"Walk me through it one more time."

One hundred thousand patient visits will be handled by this facility annually. Taking their lives and mindsets to heart, Hait first wanted to know this building by heart. Over and over again, he walked through it mentally when it existed only in his mind's eye, then virtually on architectural drawings and later on foot when it was a construction site and a work in progress. For the busiest man at CINJ, this was no easy feat. "I was very much involved," he says, "but so were all the senior CINJ managers. There was just something about this project that grabbed us all."

Nick Fabbroni, MBA, a UMDNJ director of construction, would get the call and pass the word. "He wants to walk through it one more time." Each time the team did, however, the CINJ project improved. "Seriously, we all ended up being happy that he had asked, 'Can I walk through it one more time?'" Fabbroni recalls.

Hait was so keen on eliminating mistakes, on facilitating an institute that could pride itself on extraordinarily high quality, compassionate patient care, and on creating a space that would flawlessly integrate three major areas - research, prevention and control of cancer - that even his eye for color was tested.

On the fourth floor of the new CINJ wing, Hait points out features on the state-of-the-art laboratory research equipment.

"Talk to me about the color 'cottage,'" he laughs, before entering the $71 million extension for an intimate tour. "Yes, I was very involved and at one point, I just didn't think the colors were coming together." A warm creamy "cottage" color soon replaced the dark, rusty, red-brick tones which had been too predominant and potentially saddening inside. With walls of glass which allow natural sunlight to flood the structure, six new treatment areas, more than 30 traditional exam rooms, several expansive reception and nursing areas, separate floors for research as well as preventive, epidemiological endeavors, "the building may be large," Hait says, "but we wanted the spaces to be small, private and comfortable for patients." There is an intimacy about it from the moment you enter through the extra large, revolving front door. To the right, you can't skip the 1,000 gallon aquarium of mesmerizing tropical fish in the first floor waiting room which offers a soothing focus if you don't want to read or concentrate on anything but life swimming around you.

Take the pediatric division on the second floor as typical. Open the door and you are suddenly in a happy-go-lucky area complete with stars on the ceiling, purples, greens and a Peter Pan eye for decorating, even in the construction of the play table which wanders structurally in one long, curved pattern through the waiting area, inviting sick kids to sit down and then run away with their imaginations. In the glass-enclosed Resource and Learning Center, staffed by a medical librarian and just outside the pediatric area, children's books haven't been overlooked either and are among the varied resources for patients and families who need to research treatment procedures, clinical trials and symptom management. If you want to see inside your body or touch a replica of some unimaginable part, you'll find colorful plastic models of human organs and systems.

Stephanie Grospe, RN, MSN, OCN, CINJ associate director of patient care services.

Perhaps Hait's favorite aspect of the building lies in the integration of science and medicine. "In the case of cancer, where half of your patients are not going to be cured, if you give the standard treatment, you are going to get the standard result and that's not good," he says. On the other hand, the element of fear is definitely a factor for someone with cancer who considers becoming part of research. Comfort, privacy and the reassuring familiarity of a place can help put people at ease.

"There is a tough balance between running a research institute and providing the best care for people." Hait thinks this building and the people inside it who work for cancer patients reflect that perfect balance. Some do double duty, like the tumor study coordinator, who feeds those fish every night.

Kara Lien Madelozo, of Bridgewater, NJ, in the new pediatric playroom at CINJ

Up on the fourth floor, where the number of CINJ labs increased from 22 to 44, and where solitary research could have been encouraged by the building's design, a people-centered approach was taken. Hait smiles about this because he knows something about all this from a very personal point. Blackboards line the hallways so scientists can and do leave messages for one another. Offices are not located within the laboratories themselves but are situated across the hall so individuals have to emerge and physically interact with one another. Even within the labs, an internal hallway connects every bench scientist on the floor and "encourages sharing," according to this hands-on director. Lights are directly above the benches. Doors came off the storage cabinets on one of those walk-throughs because it was determined that researchers worked best when they could see what was up on their shelves immediately. When he first began his own life as a researcher after receiving his degree from the University of Pennsylvania, while pursuing his MD and PhD degrees in pharmacology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and later at Yale, having an office within the lab kept him inside for hours on end. Coming out for conversation is critical for fertilizing ideas and impossible to avoid at CINJ.

Designed by the Hillier Group and constructed by Sordoni Skanska Building USA, "This building is a dream come true," he says.

Hait's only problem at the moment is that it isn't big enough. Though the stone, two-level, falling-water fountain out front is still being tweaked by an engineer on the day of our tour and the plantings around the circular driveway are just sending out roots, the demand for CINJ has already outgrown the available space. This being true, Bill Hait, who once toyed with pursuing a career in basketball, has now proven that he can walk through a construction project like a pro, any time.