First floor of new Jim Ayers Tower opens at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

BYLINE: Jill Clendening

Newswise — Level 7 of the Jim Ayers Tower welcomed its first patients as the initial floor of 30 private, inpatient rooms opened in the new expansion tower adjoining Vanderbilt University Hospital (VUH).

The 28,000-square-foot pulmonary stepdown unit is the first of six inpatient floors in the new building which rises above 21st Avenue on the Vanderbilt Health Main Campus in Nashville.

The Jim Ayers Tower is Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s largest facility expansion to date. Construction of the 495,000-square-foot structure began in the summer of 2022 and is expected to be completed by early 2027.

The tower is named in recognition of James W. (Jim) Ayers, a prominent Tennessee banker, businessman and philanthropist. Ayers, who died in April, and his wife, Janet, were honored last October for their steadfast community leadership and longtime connection to the Medical Center.

“The opening of the first floor of the Jim Ayers Tower marks the culmination of a yearslong journey to add critically needed capacity to Vanderbilt University Hospital. This space reflects our ongoing commitment to care for people when they need us most, in a comforting setting that offers the most cutting-edge advances in care,” said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “We are grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Ayers, and to our community, for bringing this extraordinary new resource to fruition.”  

Expansive exterior windows fill the new unit with softly filtered, natural light, and honey-toned maple doors and architectural panels along the walls mirror design elements found across the Medical Center. These elements create a serene, visually harmonious environment — an intentional aesthetic echoed throughout the tower.

“We are so excited for the opening of the first of our six inpatient floors included in the new Jim Ayers Tower, a facility that honors Jim and Janet Ayers and their dedication to improving the health care and quality of life for Tennesseans,” said Jane Freedman, MD, Deputy CEO and Chief Health System Officer for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “The tower, reaching 16 stories into the sky, has been designed to deliver unrivaled care and health care services that match the nationally ranked expertise, exceptional patient care and innovative breakthroughs Vanderbilt University Medical Center is already well known for.

“Every single detail of the Jim Ayers Tower design has been strategically planned and completed with our patients and families first in mind. The technology and design innovations included in this structure will support our medical teams well as they continue to deliver the very best care to our community. We look forward to welcoming all to this remarkable facility as additional floors open in the coming months.”

The Jim Ayers Tower construction and related renovations to adjacent facilities have been a significant undertaking for the Medical Center. The additional space will help meet the medical needs of Middle Tennessee’s booming population. VUH, the region’s largest tertiary referral center, already operates at more than 90% capacity year-round.

In conjunction with the construction of the Jim Ayers Tower, 10 operating rooms opened this summer in the South Tower of Medical Center East, the red brick building adjacent to the new construction. And the space has already been well utilized: From July 28 until the end of September, more than 500 surgical or interventional procedures have been completed in the new operating rooms.

“We are incredibly grateful for and excited about the first inpatient unit opening in the Jim Ayers Tower,” said Lee Ann Liska, MBA, President and Chief Operating Officer of VUH. “The additional beds will help us move patients even more efficiently from our emergency room and allow us to take critical inpatient transfers from our regional hospitals and other facilities.

“I want to personally thank our architects, planning, design and construction teams, operations and patient care leaders who have worked very hard over the past few years to bring this exciting project to fruition. We look forward to welcoming our patients to the new space this week.”

Depending on the final floor configuration, the Jim Ayers Tower will add 180 to 187 inpatient beds, along with additional radiology services, multiple specialty clinics and new administrative office space. Unfinished floors will allow further expansion of patient beds.

Pulmonary patients previously located in a 27-bed unit on the eighth floor of VUH will be transferred to the 30-bed unit in the Jim Ayers Tower on Oct. 1, a move medical teams have been preparing for extensively in recent weeks, Liska said.

“We’re also using this as an opportunity to consolidate related medical specialties on our medical campus that had become separated in different areas and even in different buildings as services were added through the years in the space that was available,” Freedman said. “Certain services will be consolidated. This will benefit both our patients and their families, and our providers and staff.”

The new pulmonary stepdown unit features private rooms for adult patients with complex pulmonary issues requiring hospitalization. The rooms are designed to provide ICU-level care with elevated monitoring, if needed. Included in each room is an alcove with a privacy curtain for a visitor to settle in, complete with a cushioned chair that folds out to a cot.

“The new stepdown unit is a state-of-the-art facility for caring for our patients with advanced lung disease,” said Anna Hemnes, MD, professor of Medicine and director of the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. “This is a home for patients with highly complex lung disease, both before and after lung transplant, and for patients with complex pulmonary vascular disorders. The unit includes nurses who are highly experienced with these conditions and patient care, facilities to ensure they maintain or improve fitness through physical therapy, and proximity to the team of physicians and advanced practice providers who care for them.”

Noticeable in all rooms are two large monitors facing patients’ beds: a television and a screen with a camera mounted above, which allows patients to be monitored by a dedicated, virtual nursing team who provide another layer of vigilance in addition to the unit’s nurses, Freedman said. There are three nurses’ stations on the unit positioned for easy response to patients.

The floor also features three isolation rooms that can become either positive or negative pressure spaces as the need requires. For example, if a patient has an infectious disease such as tuberculosis, the room would be set to negative pressure. This causes air to flow into the room when the door is opened, keeping any contaminants contained. If a patient is immunocompromised, setting the room to positive pressure would make air flow outward, keeping any contaminants from the hallway away from the patient.

Architects for the Jim Ayers Tower project are Blair + Mui Dowd of New York, New York. The award-winning firm has played a significant role in the design and execution of many of VUMC’s major construction projects for more than 20 years. VUMC’s Department of Planning, Design and Construction oversaw completion of this project.

The last major addition to VUH was completed in November 2009 with the opening of the Critical Care Tower, an 11-level expansion that added 102 patient beds and 12 operating rooms.