Our One-Stop Ortho Shop


NorthBay Rehabilitation Services Manager Doug Hinton, left, and orthopedic surgeon Cornelius Elmes survey the possibilities in a vacant building on Hilborn Road, which by summer of 2017 will house orthopedics, X-ray and Rehabilitation Services.

NorthBay Healthcare has signed an 11-year lease and is in the design phase to create the Hilborn Health Plaza—a special medical office that will house a collaboration of orthopedics, rehabilitation and X-ray services.

Projected to open in the summer of 2017, the 13,500-square-foot building at 2500 Hilborn Road will join two other NorthBay buildings on campus, the Hilborn Center for Primary Care and the Hilborn Administration Center, which is also home to Occupational and Employee Health.

Patients will be able to enjoy “pre-hab,” noted Justine Zilliken, executive director of Specialty Services. Patients can meet with their rehabilitation partners during their pre-operative visit with their orthopedic surgeon so they will understand their plan of care.

Orthopedics will relocate from the NorthBay Health Plaza on B. Gale Wilson Boulevard, while Rehabilitation Services will come from its current location at In-Shape Fairfield Rancho Solano.

Rehabilitation Manager Doug Hinton says he will move some of his equipment and get some new equipment for the larger space.

Aimee Brewer, president of Ambulatory Services, sees the value of bringing the services together. “This is the perfect location to provide comprehensive, innovative and integrated orthopedic care to our patients,” she said. “All the services they’ll need will be right here, at an easy-to-reach location right off the freeway with plenty of parking.”

Architects met this summer with about a dozen employees from the departments to collaborate on design plans. They used cardboard boxes, duct tape, Post-its and a whole lot of imagination to create a mock office, laying out offices, patient rooms, a reception area and mini-gym for rehab. Then they invited patients in to walk through and share observations.

Out of those discussions came a number of creative ideas, including the creation of cubbies to make it easy for patients to store their gear, and the establishment of a coffee station in the lobby.

A gurney, a patient exam table and a wheelchair were all brought in to see how they’d fit in the spaces marked. Placement of an X-ray adjacent to an orthopedic casting room will make the trip fast and easy for patients.

Joelyn Gropp, assistant vice president of Real Estate and Facilities Development, coordinated the two-day workshop with a team from the architectural firm NBBJ.

“It’s exciting to be able to design the office from the ground up, using strategies to make the space as patient-friendly and efficient as possible,” said Gropp. “By next year this time, we should be welcoming patients to an exciting new experience.”

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