Imaka City Medical Center

The Imaka City Medical Center, often abbreviated ICMC, is the premiere medical research facility on the Retikan Super-continent, with areas devoted to nearly every type of medicine from psychiatry to trauma medicine to pharmacology.

Located in the lonely Imaka Steppes, the ICMC originally started out as a quarantine zone, early in the Itakian civilization's developement.  Itakians that had contracted communicable, terminal diseases were sent there not to heal, but to die.
Despite this, a community sprang up, populated by those individuals who were ill, but not so ill as to be completely disabled, as well as concerned family and healers intent on helping the sick and injured.  However, it wasn't until after the Retikan Seadwellers and Itakians became aware of each other that the quarantine zone began to develop into its own city.
Eventually, a proper hospital was built on the Steppes, dubbed the Imaka Steppes Hospital, to house and care for the most ill of the zone's population.  The hospital began to attract medical researchers and healers from other Itakian communities, as well as a few Seadweller healers.   As both cultures' understanding of medicine improved, so too did the conditions present in the hospital.   With time, more people sent to the Hospital recovered and were able to be sent back home to family and friends than there were that died, vastly changing the reputation of the area.
The Hospital continued to grow in size, with new additions being constructed for different divisions of medicine as the species' societies continued to grow and shift.  A small section for the Seadwellers living in the nearby Lake Aikati was built during a time of relative peace between the two species, although the services available to them were not nearly as extensive as the services available to Itakians, until the two cultures began to move towards joining the galactic community.  
As different diseases and conditions made themselves known to the Itakian people, a large research wing was constructed alongside the hospital, and the building was renamed to the Imaka Steppes Medical Center.  Shortly after, a pharmaceutical wing was added, drawing researchers and doctors from all over the super-continent.   With the influx of staff for the newly dubbed medical center, the small town quickly began to expand into a full blown city, with all the services that entails.  A unanimous vote from the Itakian Elder Council in Capitol named the city Imaka City, and officially rebranded the medical center as the Imaka City Medical Center.
Since then, the ICMC remained the finest hospital on the continent, providing healthcare of all sorts to any who might need it, even in times of social unrest and war.

Purpose / Function

• Humane and compassionate care to the ill and infirm.
• Research into disease cures, both physical and mental.
• Pharmaceutical research
• Training of medical personnel

Alterations

The hospital has undergone several additions and alterations in the course of its existence including, but not limited to:

• Addition of a psychiatric ward
• Addition of a pharmaceutical research wing
• Addition of an underwater wing
• Addition of a maternity ward, both above and below water.
• Addition of a building for the families of terminally ill patients

Architecture

The architecture of the hospital is overall very industrial from the outside, simply due to the strict purpose of the building.  That being said, the interior wings are decorated and maintained very well.  
The complex resembles a wheel, with a central hub that serves as the primary access point for check-ins and check-outs, and access to the visitors' center as well as the public facing pharmacy.  An airlock exists for access to the underwater portions of the center.
From the hub, access to the various wings of the center can be reached via elevator (turbolift) or on foot.  These wings are all color coded so that divisions are clearly marked for ease of navigation for visitors.  A ring of hallways connects all the wings at the outer edge of the complex.  A sky-walk connects the central hub to the nearby hotel for the families of the terminally ill.
Prior to the development of turbolifts, small wheeled vehicles, similar to Earth golf-carts were provided to facilitate transport across the center.
Each wing has an atrium with a garden, so that staff and patients can still have access to nature and sunlight to facilitate healing and/or mental wellness during their stay.    In addition, certain wings are decorated differently to facilitate healing, such as the psychiatric and pediatric wards.   While all wings are decorated in light pastel colors to promote wellness, the psychiatric ward is brightly lit and has abstract paintings, mosaics, and murals to provide mental stimulation.  Art from the various art therapy programs line the walls, and skylights provide natural light throughout the ward.  The pediatric ward is decorated with bright, cheerful colors, and lots of images of anthropomorphized medical equipment and animals litter the walls and posters to explain what certain equipment and procedures are for, all while not scaring the children.
The surgery areas are the exceptions to the pastel colors rule, with nearly everything being monochrome with a heavy emphasis on white to make cleaning and sterilization more efficient, and to denote the seriousness of the situation.

Alternative Names

Imaka Steppes Hospital (Formerly), Imaka Steppes Medical Center (Formerly), ICMC (abbreviated).

Type

Hospital