360 degree video of new Hospital Revealed
GOLD BEACH, OREGON - October 24, 2014Curry County Reporter, Sean Hall
Curry Health Network Holds Town Hall Meeting
On Wednesday October 8, at 5 p.m., Curry Health Network held a town hall in the Gold Beach City Council Room to discuss the construction of the replacement hospital.
Curry Health Network CEO Andrew Bair introduced Erdman representatives Steve Wolters and Todd Wambach to discuss the construction of the hospital.
Erdman is the Wisconsin based company that is planning and designing the new hospital; Wambach is a architect working for the firm and Wolters is a senior vice president of the agency.
Currently the hospital is still in a design phase, although they have completed the schematics and the design of the hospital, some of the permits are still being worked out -- and the hospital is being reviewed by the Department of Health [correction: Oregon Health Authority].
Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2015, potentially around March, and is scheduled to be completed sometime in a years time -- March of 2016.
The total floor space for the design of the hospital will be 60,200 square feet, there will be 18 patient beds in private rooms, 2 operating rooms, the emergency department will include 3 exam rooms, 1 triage, and 2 bay trauma rooms, an imaging department, an infusion therapy center, a clinic consisting of 10 exam rooms and and a shared minor procedure room, a dedicated helipad, and on-site parking for 100 cars.
The facility will be 4 stories tall and is being designed to keep essential equipment off the ground floor to protect against the potential for flooding. Patients will also be kept in the top sections of the building for similar reasons, although Erdman has hinted that part of the decision would be aesthetic and that the view should be "amazing".
The next steps in the process will be the continuation of the permitting and review process, the continued design for the foundation (initial testing has determined that there is nothing but sand for more than 100 feet below the planned foundation), the advancement of construction and engineering documents and contracts, continued testing of the subcontractor market, and the ongoing collaboration with the USDA to secure funding for the hospital construction.
Curry County residents inside the health district (which does not include Brookings/Harbor area residents) are providing the Health District 10 million dollars for the project, and the rest of the cost is projected to come from a loan. Curry Health District has expressed confidence that the loan will come through, but they have inferred that there are other options and lenders available to them if their initial plan for funding does work out.
"There are other methodologies of funding if the USDA loan doesn't follow through," said Bair. "The USDA loan is just the best type."
Bair will have departed the Health District long before this, though (October is Bair's last month with CHD). A new interim or a full time CEO should be lined up to take over and help oversee the construction in the coming months ahead.
In mid December, the District should know whether they have secured the loan or not. Until then, it is just a matter of patience as the preliminary work is continued which should lead up to the hospital breaking ground (weather permitting) this winter/spring.