Palo Alto Medical Foundation Opens New Clark Building

New 3-Tesla MRI and Physical Therapy Department Added to Palo Alto Clinic

The Clark Building, a three story, 41,000-square-foot medical office building opened last month at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation's (PAMF) Palo Alto Clinic.

The building is the new home of the Department of Sports Medicine and the Department of Dermatology, which were previously located in the Clinic's Lee Building. It will also house PAMF's new Physical Therapy Department and feature a state-of-the-art 3.0 Tesla (3.0T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.

"The Clark Building is a beautiful addition to the Palo Alto campus," said Jenifer Turnbull, vice president of Planning, Marketing and Public Affairs. "It also gives us some much needed additional space on the campus to add more physicians to better serve our growing patient population."

The Clark Building is named for Silicon Graphics and Netscape founder James Clark, from whom PAMF received a $5 million gift in 2003 to lead the construction of the new building. It is located directly northeast of the Lee and Jamplis Buildings and next to the Clinic's new parking structure, which was completed in June 2006.

"The Clark family has enabled us to increase our capacity at the Palo Alto site in response to the community's needs," PAMF President and CEO David Druker, M.D., said. "We're committed to providing quality care in our community, and we're grateful to Dr. Clark and other community leaders who decide to partner with us and make it happen."

Physicians in the Department of Sports Medicine and Department of Dermatology began seeing patients in the new building on Monday, Nov. 20. Sports Medicine is located on the third floor and includes 18 exam rooms, a cast room and orthotics lab.

Dermatology is located on the second floor and features four procedure rooms; 15 medical assistant and nursing stations; physician offices; two large observation rooms with recliners and TVs for longer procedures; a dermatology lab; and a phototherapy room.

A new Physical Therapy Department will open to patients on Monday, Dec. 18. PAMF will provide treatment for and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries and postoperative care, except for neurological disorders (such as stroke or spinal injuries) or injuries below the elbow (such as hand injuries). The department will be located on the first floor of the Clark Building and will feature state-of-the-art equipment, including a pool for aquatic therapy, two specialty treadmills that will alter the effects of normal gravity and an isokinetic testing device. In addition, the department will have Pilates equipment and an Olympic lifting platform.

PAMF will also continue to contract with HealthSouth and other outside physical therapy vendors to provide services at their facilities to meet our patients' needs.

In December, the 3.0T MRI will be lifted into the Clark Building. The imaging machine is expected to be available in January and will provide improved image quality and speed, reducing scan times for patients.

PAMF will use the space vacated by the Departments of Sports Medicine and Dermatology to expand existing services in the Lee Building, such as General Surgery, Neurology and Neurosurgery.

For more information about PAMF's new Clark Building, visit www.pamf.org/clark.


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