The six-storey Friese Family Tower adds 150 patient beds to the hospital campus – including a 32-bed expanded emergency department, a 16-bed paediatrics unit, a 20-bed cardiovascular unit, a 22-bed critical care unit, a 42-bed med/surg unit, and a 42-bed progressive care unit.

The facility also includes a new pharmacy, central utility plant, general storage, and respiratory therapist workroom.

The tower has been under construction for three and a half years, and is the centrepiece of the Center’s expansion plans. It connects to the hospital’s main lobby via a hallway, and features a healing garden outside the building.

The facility will welcome its first patients on 1 October, and will support the growing demand for acute care facilities in the Los Angeles area, and throughout California.

The Kaiser Permanente San Marcos Medical Center, in San Diego County, California, opened a new 206-room comprehensive emergency department last month.