The new Pierre Y. Aboukhater Ambulatory Care Center is rising, in phases, within the walls of the old Out Patient Department building (OPD), just across from the Diana Tamari Sabbagh Building and the Medical Gate. The once gracious structure is now a forlorn-looking hollow shell. But ongoing construction and rehabilitation, part of the Campus Master Plan, is transforming the building into a state-of-the-art outpatient facility. The new center is closely related to the renovation and changes planned for the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) that involve significant reorganization of former clinic areas. The philosophy behind the construction of the new center reflects the increasing growth in the demand for outpatient care. The facility is expected to attract a large number of private patients, thereby boosting hospital admissions and assisting in the attraction and retention of highly-qualified physicians. Most importantly, the new center will be an efficient, cost-effective, stand-alone, one-site facility, designed to provide the best possible outpatient care for patients. As with so many master plan renovations, the new center will be built and staffed in stages. The original OPD structure was built in the shape of a “T.” The top bar of the T, bordering Clemenceau Street, will continue for some time to house the University’s Continuing Education Center and, pending completion of its new home on lower campus, the offices of the Olayan School of Business. The new basement, now under construction, will contain the Graham and Meredith Rooke Wound Care Center, named after its chief donors. This unit, unique of its kind in Lebanon, will provide for the modern treatment of wounds, with specialization in burn trauma and diabetes wounds. The first and second floors will serve the Department of Internal Medicine. The first floor will contain the rheumatology clinics, a laboratory sampling unit, and EKG facilities. The second floor will be devoted to infectious diseases and to the pulmonary, gastroenterology, and nephrology divisions, while the third and fourth floors will temporarily house dermatology clinics. Eventually, the fourth floor will be occupied by Family Medicine. The former sites of these specialties in the main AUBMC building will be given over to specialty clinics needing close access to the hospital—units such as cardiology, gynecology/obstetrics, and surgical specialties. In turn, space vacated by obstetrics/gynecology will become the orthopedics clinics, efficiently located near the physiotherapy facilities. Vacated spaces on the seventh floor will be occupied by all outpatient eye clinics and will also serve a new Women’s Health Multidisciplinary Program. The planning for all these changes and consolidations is both immensely intricate and forward-looking, explained Dr. Nadim Cortas, vice president for Medical Affairs and the Raja N. Khuri Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Center. Economic reviewers and other accrediting commissions have helped the University calculate well into the future, estimating clinic, physician, hospitable bed, patient, and even parking space numbers for the coming years. “We have faced a number of bottlenecks,” Dean Cortas said, “but I am happy to say that things are moving.” The new Aboukhater Ambulatory Care Center should be ready to begin installing furniture and equipment by January 2006. Commenting on the greatest advantage of the new center, Dean Cortas said, “It will be a kind of one-stop shop. Patients will come to one place. All the specialties will be across the street in the new location. Patients will be able to give blood samples and take other tests over there. The new consolidation will be very patient-friendly for many years to come.”
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