The Vanderbilt Eye Institute (VEI) is hosting an open house today at 5 p.m. for its new state-of-the-art patient care and research facility.
At a cost of $11 million, VEI’s new home on the Vanderbilt Medical Center campus houses 50,000 square feet of patient care and research space.
As the home of Middle Tennessee’s largest ophthalmology practice, VEI currently has 33 physician faculty and will see 58,000 patients this year. The new facility is necessary to meet space demands brought about by increasing patient volume.
VEI’s new facility, located on Pierce Avenue and adjacent to the Medical Center’s South Garage, is home to the Tennessee Lion’s Pediatric Eye Clinic; a refractive laser suite and diagnostics area; an optical retail shop; departmental offices; designated exam and waiting room areas for all sub-specialty care, and 53 subspecialty exam/treatment rooms. The new facility boasts 20 more exam/treatment rooms than VEI’s previous facility.
“For us, the most exciting aspect of this new facility is simply having adequate space to handle the dramatic increase in patient volume that we are experiencing. The ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive, state-of-the-art, world-recognized eye program,” said Paul Sternberg, M.D., professor and chairman of Vanderbilt’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. “Many of our patients are elderly so ‘way finding’ is difficult, but there is a tremendous advantage for them, and the community as a whole, because of the ease of access with this new building.”
WHAT: Vanderbilt Eye Institute hosts open house for new patient care and research facility.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 2, from 5 – 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: VEI is located just behind Children’s Hospital on Pierce Avenue and is directly adjacent to the Medical Center’s South Garage. Media parking is available in the South Garage.