Painting, trim and floor installation are underway as the expansion of Woodlawn Hospital progresses.
Hospital board members and Joel Edgell, BSA Lifestructures' Woodlawn Hospital project manager, toured the construction Tuesday. BSA designed the addition and oversaw bidding and construction management.
Board members walked through all of the new construction except the surgery suite, which was undergoing its final cleaning. To enter, they would have been required to prep themselves much as a doctor does before entering, Edgell said. The surgery suite will be the first section to open, later this year.
Ground was broken for the $12.5-million expansion a year ago. Hospital administrators anticipate occupying the addition to the east of the existing hospital by the end of this year and all construction to be finished by March.
"Second floor has caught up and surpassed the first floor," Edgell said. "There's not as much mechanical up there, so the drywallers can work quicker."
The second floor will house Woodlawn Medical Professionals physicians. Edgell showed board members the setup, which includes an office and three nearby examination rooms for up to nine doctors. There is space for a small laboratory, nurses' station and more.
At the west end of the second floor addition are classrooms for patient education and a conference room that can be divided into two spaces.
There also is the green roof, which is now carpeted with trays of plants and concrete pavers where tables and potted trees will be placed. It will be accessible only to staffers.
The upstairs also features a corridor to the present patient rooms. "The physicians have told me they're very happy about that," Edgell said. All patient rooms will be in the original building.
The first-floor addition features radiology and nuclear medicine closest to the original structure. The new MRI has been used since July 1. There is a suite in the radiology department dedicated to women's health, Edgell said.
The new emergency department, in the northeast section of the addition's first floor, features six examination rooms surrounding a centralized nursing station. There also are three trauma rooms, Edgell said.
Ambulance personnel have a dedicated entrance for their patients. They also have a decontamination room in case they are exposed to toxins or chemicals. It has a specific drain for contaminated water, so that does not enter the city sewer system.
There also is a bereavement room in the emergency department.
The cardiology and physical therapy departments are at the east end of the first-floor addition. The therapy department is on the southeast side, with banks of windows.
On the west side, between physical therapy and the present building, is the new lobby, patient admission and registration area. Its south side is a bank of windows.
That section includes an emergency department kiosk, three regular patient registration cubicles and two registration rooms for the radiology department, Edgell said. The lobby's elevator is now operational.
"There's the public area. And each department has a waiting room/control room to keep the public out," he said, pointing to the architects' and administration's desire to insure patient privacy.
Edgell said a state building inspection is expected next week. "After that, we'll be able to start closing the ceiling in."
