When patients show up for medical appointments and procedures at the facilities of Chesterfield-based health system Mercy, Jason Grellner says parking is probably an afterthought.
“Parking is that thing that’s out of mind,” said Grellner, Mercy’s executive director of public safety. “But parking is that first thing that can really make or break how your day is going to go at the doctor’s office.”
A scarcity of parking spots can cause frustration and make patients run late, Grellner said. That’s why Mercy is now seeking to cure that pain point.
Starting in spring 2023, when it opens a parking garage at its new Mercy Ballas Center for Multispecialty Center, Mercy will incorporate parking garage technology designed to direct visitors to open parking spots to ease entrance to the facility.
"It's no secret that parking at health care facilities in urban areas across the U.S. can be a headache," said David Meiners, president of Mercy Hospital St. Louis. "Mercy is no different. When our patients come for doctors' appointments, procedures and surgeries, we want to remove the added stress that often comes with getting into a building.”
Mercy said that its parking technology is part of an array of new technologies it will implement at its Center for Multispecialty Care. It is also eyeing other innovations, announcing Monday it will begin using robotic machines at its hospitals to complete tasks like deliver patient meals, linens and medications.
The new parking technology to be used at the 970-spaceparking garage at Mercy’s soon-to-open Center for Multispecialty Care, a new outpatient surgery center being built next to Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur, is from global technology firm TKH Security and uses cameras and sensors to determine the number and location of open parking spots inside the garage. With that technology, the garage will have signs on each floor that show the current number of spaces available on that level, with lights on the garage's ceiling that let drivers know whether there are open parking spots nearby. A green light indicates an open spot while a red light means the area is full.
Mercy declined to disclose the cost to install its new parking garage technology.
In addition to simplifying the parking process, Grellner said the technology can read license plates, which will help easily locate vehicles if a visitor forgets where they parked their car. The camera also can help with campus security, Grellner said, to identify cars that have been parked within the garages for an extended period of time.
Grellner said the implementation of the new parking technology has the ability to provide insight and data around how Mercy might best be able schedule appointments and procedures at its facilities to manage traffic flow. At Mercy’s campus in Creve Coeur, there can be upward of 12,000 to 15,000 visitors per day on the busiest days of the week, Grellner said.
While Mercy plans to debut TKH Security’s technology at its new Center for Multispecialty Care, the health system says it plans to bring the technology to other parking garages at its facilities here and in other states.
Mercy, which says it's one of the 25 largest U.S. health systems, operates more than 40 acute care, managed and specialty hospitals; convenient, urgent care, imaging and pharmacy facilities; 900 physician practices and outpatient facilities, in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy has over 40,000 workers systemwide, including more than 20,000 in the St. Louis area. The nonprofit also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
