As part of the project, all of the existing grey wayfinding signs will be replaced in our busiest traffic areas starting this summer.
As part of the project, all of the existing grey wayfinding signs will be replaced in our busiest traffic areas starting this summer.
Credit
Matthew Manor

If you work or volunteer at Kingston General Hospital, it’s safe to say you’re likely asked for directions from time to time. Well, some work is now getting under way that will help patients, families and staff find their way around the hospital.

Over the next few days, our Facilities Management staff will be putting up new signage inside the building as the name of the Fraser Armstrong Patient Centre (FAPC) is being officially changed over to the Armstrong wing. It’s one of the first steps in our overall wayfinding project.

“We wanted to make the name more patient and family friendly,” says Erin Eardley, Project Coordinator. “Instead of having to remember FAPC, patients and families can now just look for the word Armstrong when they arrive at KGH.”

Patient appointment cards will also no longer have any mention of FAPC when someone is referred to one of the several clinics still operating out of the building.

This work to rename FAPC is an early step in the overall wayfinding project. KGH has worked with consultants who are experts in this field and has had over 100 staff from various departments as well as Patient Experience Advisors attend focus sessions to help us make key decisions. This will make the facility more patient and family focused, helping people navigate their way to appointments, meetings or to visit a loved one.

“For the last several years we have been studying ways to improve traffic inside of the hospital to make sure people have an easier time finding their way around,” says Eardley. “We have now developed a strategy that will see each wing identified by a name, colour and symbol. The symbols represent the theme of community, nature and healing.”

One of the major features of the new wayfinding strategy is that the thresholds between wings in the hospital will be identified by the wing name, colour and symbol to let you know that you are leaving one wing and entering another. For example, in the future when you enter the Burr wing, you will see the name Burr on a blue wall, with an image of a sailboat. The Victory wing on the other hand will have an orange wall with its name and a butterfly.

“We want to make sure that patients and families will have a number of ways to identify their location. If they can’t remember the name, they may remember the colour or symbol to help them find their way,” says Eardley. “We are also trying to reduce the number of wing names and make the names easier to remember such as the FAPC to Armstrong change.”

To reduce the number of wing names, some buildings will be folded under one common name. For example, KGH currently has 13 buildings with individual names. This will be trimmed down to eight names. They are:

  • Armstrong (formerly FAPC)
  • Kidd/Davies (formerly Kidd wing and Davies wing)
  • Connell (no change)
  • Douglas (no change)
  • Dietary (no change)
  • Victory (formerly Victory and Empire)
  • Burr (no change)
  • Watkins (formerly Watkins, Nickel, Angada, Doran)

KGH will issue an RFP for the project shortly and will roll out these changes on levels 0 and 1 of the hospital this summer and fall. The project will be expanded to the rest of the facility (levels 2 to 10) afterwards.

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