Construction Continues
Steel work is progressing on Memorial Hospital’s future outpatient areas. Next week crews will begin framing walls. The structure shown in the foreground of the photo above is the service hallway that will connect the new hospital to the existing structure.
Steel, Concrete, and Why Is It Built Up So High?
Steel framework for the inpatient wings is being installed at the Memorial Hospital construction site. The construction workers shown in the upper left corner are laying a concrete roof on the north tornado shelter. The steel beams in the lower right corner are roof supports for the hallway that will connect the new building to the current hospital.
Many people have asked us, “Why is the new hospital built up so high?” It’s built on a steep grade to make the new building connect evenly with the current hospital building without installing steps between the two buildings. This is for the benefit of our patients and visitors who have trouble walking or are in wheelchairs. The current hospital building will be renovated to include our physician clinics and MHS Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine. Making the buildings connect evenly will make it easier for our patients and visitors to walk between hospital clinical areas and our physician clinics and rehab department.
Construction remains on schedule. Do you have any questions or concerns about the building project? Feel free to ask us by leaving a comment!
Alberici at MHS
The Alberici Healthcare Constructors on-site staff for the Memorial Hospital building project are (left) Kent Knott, Job Superintendent, and Austin Davis, Project Engineer.
As you watch the hospital building construction progress, do you wonder who is overseeing this project to ensure that it is running smoothly and keeping it on schedule?
MHS contracted with Alberici Healthcare Constructors for the $24 million construction project. Alberici staff fromSt. Louis visit the site regularly, but two Alberici employees have become Abilene residents for the duration of the project.
The Project Engineer is Austin Davis. Austin handles the financial information for the job, oversees the broad schedule, and processes the submittals and approvals for all of the material and equipment that enters the site. He also issues the Requests For Information, manages the subcontracts, and reviews all of the billings. Austin says he manages a lot of the paperwork and documentation for the job.
Kent Knott is the Job Superintendent. Kent manages the day-to-day logistics and works directly with the people on site. He prioritizes and coordinates the electrical, architectural, and plumbing work so the process flows smoothly with no glitches. Kent and Austin schedule work with the contractors on site two to three weeks out, while also overseeing the long range schedule to make sure the critical activities and milestones are being met.
Kent and Austin agree that they have enjoyed working with the local subcontractors and the City of Abilene staff. Kent stated, “Scott (Kolling), Lon (Schrader), and John (Gough) have been great to work with. They stay informed on what is being done and want to be satisfied that it is being done correctly.”
Kent and Austin both say that a project of this size takes everyone working together to make it happen successfully. Memorial Health System welcomes Kent and Austin to Abilene. Thank you for all you are doing for Memorial!
Flooring It
Above is a panoramic view of Memorial Hospital’s building project. We spliced three pictures together to obtain this view, and hope it provides you with a comprehensive perspective of the building project’s progress. If you wish, you may click on the photo to open up a larger version.
These photos were taken during the beautiful weather we had on Tuesday. Building contractors finished pouring clean rock gravel in the future Memorial Hospital MedSurg patient wings in preparation for pouring concrete slab. Concrete was poured for the northeast wing and the tornado shelter in the southeast wing on Thursday.
There will be a series of concrete pours that will occur within the next week, weather permitting. Project Engineer Austin Davis refers to the pours as a “rinse and repeat” process of pouring gravel, placing a vapor barrier over the gravel to prevent moisture from coming through the hospital’s floor, reinforcing with rebar (reinforcing bar), and pouring concrete.
Some hospital employees have been watching the concrete pour from their office windows. Who knew concrete pouring could be so interesting to watch? It’s exciting to see the floor of the new hospital building taking shape.
In the photo below, you can see workers leveling out the concrete in the northeast wing. There are a couple of spots to the right where concrete is not poured and pipes are sticking out from the ground. According to MHS Building and Grounds Director Wade Needham, those areas will be future patient bathrooms. Each patient room will have a private bathroom, with our number of patient beds remaining at 25. The patient bathrooms will have a resin-type flooring.
Have any questions? Leave a comment!
Connecting Road Opens
Work is progressing on the Memorial Hospital construction site. The newly constructed road connecting Brown and Brady Streets is now open. The speed limit on the road is 20 mph. Stop signs and speed limit signs will be installed later this week. The entrances from that road into the construction site will be for construction traffic only.
Patient parking at Memorial Hospital is not being affected and will not change. The main entrance into Memorial Hospital remains on the north side of the building.
Making Sense of All That Dirt and Concrete
What beautiful weather we’ve been having! Memorial Hospital’s building contractors have gotten a lot of work done. Yesterday the first layer of asphalt was laid on the private drive connecting Brown and Brady streets (however there is still more work to be done on the street). In the picture above that is facing south from the current hospital, you can see the private drive in the background, along with where the new main entrance will be, future parking areas, bases for support columns in the future outpatient area, and the area where a courtyard will be.
In the picture below, you can see where the new Memorial Hospital MedSurg wings will be. Memorial will continue to be a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital (CAH). At the end of each wing, there will be tornado shelters for the safety of hospital patients and staff. It will be a relief to have tornado shelters on the same level as patient areas.
Temporary Closing of 10th and Brown Intersection
Effective the evening of Sunday, March 25, the intersection of 10th and Brown Streets will be closed temporarily for paving the street and reconstructing curbs and gutters.
During this temporary closure, east bound traffic for Dr. Jeff Luty, Dr. Brian Schaulis, Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Entrance and visitors’/patients’ parking lots will be detoured one block north at 10th and Campbell. Patients of Dr. Luty and Dr. Schaulis will turn north on Campbell and turn east on 11th Street to Brown Street and park in front of the office building as usual. Traffic for Memorial Hospital will detour from the 10th and Campbell intersection to 11th Street and use the Brown Street entrance to enter the hospital’s parking lot.
Only patients for Dr. Rick Johnson, Central Kansas Mental Health, and residents of the 400 block of 10th Street will have access to that block of 10th Street.
Barricades will be placed at the intersection of 10th and Campbell Streets and also both 10th and Brown Street intersections. Brown Street will be open south and north of 10th Street, but the intersections of 10th and Brown Streets will be closed.
Please watch for signage and barricades. The intersection is scheduled to reopen April 4, weather permitting.
Hospital Drive To Connect Brady and Brown Streets
Curb and guttering work on the drive south of the new hospital building is being completed by ECS Construction, LLC, Abilene, and T&M Construction, Junction City. This hospital drive will connect Brady and Brown Streets and offer access to the new hospital Emergency Entrance. The drive is scheduled to be paved by early April.
Federal Study Shows Memorial Hospital Successful
At a recent Rural Health Symposium held for CEOs of Critical Access Hospitals in Kansas, Memorial Hospital of Abilene was recognized as one of the top three performing Critical Access Hospitals in the state.
A study funded by a division of the US Department of Health & Human Services analyzed data for the 1,297 Critical Access Hospitals in theUnited States, and of the 83 Critical Access Hospitals in Kansas, three earned the distinction of being financially stable.
According to the report compiled by the Health Resources and Services Administration, 23% of the Critical Access Hospitals inKansas fall into the high financial risk category compared to 10% nationally. The report showed that 60 of the 83 Kansas Critical Access Hospitals fall into the high to mid-low financial distress categories. On average, Kansas Critical Access Hospitals are less financially secure than the average US Critical Access Hospital. Potential reasons for this are lower patient volume, lower rates, higher Medicaid patient volume, and higher charity care volume.
Mark Miller, Memorial Health System CEO, comments, “We are very pleased that this national study confirms Memorial Health System’s positive financial position, and that we are on sound financial ground to enter into our building project.”
The other recognized Kansas Critical Access Hospitals are Wamego Hospital Association and Hiawatha Community Hospital.
There are six federally-designated rural health research centers funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, Public Health Service. This survey was performed by the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center. According to the Center’s website, its present policy analysis and research agenda focuses on Medicare reimbursement policy, Medicaid, EMS, and access to care.
Trench Work Affects Traffic Flow in Parking Lot
Effective Wednesday, March 14, the driving lane between the hospital and the maintenance building directly behind the hospital will be closed until early April for the installation of water lines.
Hospital visitors will continue to enter and exit the visitors’ parking lot from Brown Street. There will also be access from Brady Street to the visitors’ parking lot, but there will be no access from that lot to Brady Street. Visitors will continue to use the Main entrance to the hospital on the north side of the building.
The Emergency Entrance and Emergency Parking are not affected.
The parking lot east of the hospital building will remain open and the east door of the hospital will remain open for use. There will be trench work directly east of the hospital building which will result in the loss of three parking spaces north of the annex. Delivery trucks will now be entering and exiting through the east parking lot instead of the visitors’ lot.
Please watch for signs. Memorial Health System apologizes for any inconvenience this creates and appreciates everyone’s patience.
