The campus community is invited to help celebrate the opening of the new “front door” for adult heart and vascular care at the University: The 350,000-square-foot Cardiovascular Center building at the corner of Ann and Observatory streets.
The celebration will begin at 2 p.m. June 7 with a ceremony in the gardens on the west side of the building, followed by refreshments and entertainment. The building will be open for free public tours until 6 p.m.
The five-story facility includes a large clinic area for outpatient diagnosis and treatment, 19 operating and procedure rooms, 48 inpatient rooms and amenities including a cafe, auditorium and indoor gardens. Skybridges and tunnels connect it to the main University Hospital and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, and it has its own 465-space parking garage.
Beginning June 11 the building will become the new home for most U-M Health System adult heart and vascular care, although care will continue to be provided in areas of University Hospital and outpatient centers, such as Domino’s Farms.
The ceremony will feature remarks by President Mary Sue Coleman, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs Dr. Robert Kelch, CNN Medical Correspondent and U-M Medical School alumnus Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Dr. Antonia Coello Novello, a member of the Cardiovascular Center national advisory board, former Surgeon General of the United States, and former U-M medical resident and fellow.
A musical performance by the internationally known MASS Ensemble will follow the ceremony.
Self-guided tours of all five floors of the building will include such spaces as operating rooms and inpatient areas. Tables and displays will provide more information and an opportunity to speak with experts.
The tour also will highlight art found throughout the building, including a specially commissioned sculpture called My Heart is in Your Hand, displayed in the grand lobby on level three. The eight-foot-tall bronze work symbolizes the trust that patients put in their caregivers, and the bonds between patients and their family and friends that help them through the healing process.
Access to the building will be through the main entrance off the circle drive at the corner of Ann and Observatory streets or via the skybridge from floor two of University Hospital.
Parking in the area is limited, but free public parking will be available at the University lot at the corner of Fuller Road and Beal Avenue, across from the Veterans Administration Hospital. Shuttle buses will run from the lot to the Cardiovascular Center every 15 minutes all afternoon, with the last bus leaving the new building at 6:30 p.m.
Several Ann Arbor and University bus routes stop on Ann or Observatory Streets near the building’s entrance; go to www.aata.org or www.pts.umich.edu/transit/bus_routes to find a route.
For more information on the event, and the building go to www.umcvc.org, call 734-615-2125 or e-mail [email protected].
