Ingham Community Health Centers - Birch Health Center

The Programming Process drew heavily from concurrent projects as a means to address the tight project timeline of twelve months from concept to activation.  CMH participants in the overall facility project joined forces with leadership from ICHC who were concurrently working on the development of other primary care sites.  Building from the programming for those sites, the ICHC facilities planner created a staffing and room requirements plan that defined a stand-alone satellite in a multi-use building.  This plan jumpstarted the development of the final design as the team worked through the reality of reducing the square footage from the optimal 5,800 square feet to the available footprint of 3,500 square feet. 

The first step was to reshape the model of care to align with available resources while still supporting effective delivery of primary care to the target population.  The initial concept of a collocated, stand-alone site that was physically self-contained, allowing for independent access and separate hours of operation, and clinically integrated, with team members from CMH, ICCH and Residency Training sites, was re-evaluated.  Ultimately, the team created the site as an internal suite with shared building support systems and an internal entry.  CMH staff work within the building but not within the suite and the volume of at-one-time students and residents reduced.  However, an internal waived lab, group room and medication management area remained in the programming in light of their critical impact on the ability to provide effective services.  The willingness to make hard programming choices preserved the original vision to offer integrated, comprehensive services in a safe, familiar and coordinated environment.