The St. Louis-based contractor McCarthy Building Companies Inc. announced the construction milestone on Dec. 20. HKS Architects, headquartered in Dallas, and St. Louis-based Archimages are serving as the project’s architects.

Following the devastation of an EF-5 tornado that hit the city in May 2011, the former St. John’s Regional Medical Center was left in ruin after it was directly hit. The tornado was recorded as the state of Missouri’s deadliest since 1947. The community quickly responded by planning the new replacement hospital, which began the planning stages in July 2011 and broke ground in January 2012.

“This is hallowed land that no longer belongs to Mercy but to the story of Joplin, of residents enduring a massive disaster by coming together to rebuild and move forward,” said Gary Pulsipher, president of Mercy Hospital Joplin, in a May 2012 statement. “We hope new uses of the campus can weave together as sort of a healing quilt for the city.”

The 260-plus private room replacement hospital will be larger than its predecessor and will include medical surgical, critical care, women’s and children’s, behavioral health and rehabilitation units. The 50-acre campus will also include a seven-story patient tower and a four-story clinic tower.

The milestone is on track with the construction team’s aggressive schedule, according to Ryan Felton, project director with McCarthy.

“In order to keep everyone on track, we have been managing quality through daily inspections, pre-installation meetings and by involving third-party building exterior consultants,” Felton said in a statement. “To date, all built-in-place mockup rooms have been completed, first installations have been verified, windows have been water tested and a thermography scan has been conducted.”

Offside roadwork, two permanent service elevators and a separate 30,000-square-foot central utility plant connected to the hospital via a 450-foot underground tunnel were also reached substantial completion. The central utility plant is expected to open in the early months of 2014.

The contractor’s 39-month schedule includes more than 750 tradesmen. In order to keep up with the aggressive schedule and ensure jobsite safety, McCarthy conducts weekly jobsite toolbox talks, weekly manager walks with all subcontractor managers and daily task hazard analysis.

“McCarthy has a strong quality assurance program that provides strong leadership and oversight of the building enclosure elements such as precast, window and roofing systems,” said John Farnen, executive director of planning, design and construction for Mercy, in a statement. “This includes inspections and testing of these systems during installation. On the Mercy Hospital Joplin, this process uncovered issues during the installation that were addressed and resolved preventing schedule delays. I am confident the McCarthy quality program will achieve the level of quality Mercy expects. McCarthy understands the importance of quality on the project and delivers it.”

The project is scheduled for completion in March 2015.

The post Joplin Replacement Hospital Reaches Substantial Completion appeared first on HCO News.

On March 1, 2007, an EF-3 tornado hit the city of Americus causing millions of dollars in damage to the community — including the destruction of the Sumter Regional Hospital, owned and operated by the Americus & Sumter County Hospital Authority.

In the aftermath of the tornado, the hospital staff launched into recovery mode in a joint effort with the federal and state emergency management agencies, setting up a temporary healthcare facility first through medical tents used by the army, then shifting into modular buildings designed for outpatient tests and minor care issues.

Inpatient care and major medical services required patients to go to neighboring communities.

In April 2008, the hospital shifted to prefabricated units typically used for military living made by Italy-based manufacturer Cogim — used for the first time to build a hospital. The units put together established a 71,000-square foot replacement hospital.

Shortly after, the hospital partnered with the Phoebe Putney Health System in an agreement to build a new hospital to replace the original facility, in cooperation with Richmond, Va.-based facilities advisory firm KLMK.

The new replacement hospital campus is located on a 282-acre green-field site with three specialty clinic buildings totaling 52,000 square feet.

The 76-bed hospital features all private rooms and is in the application process to obtain LEED Silver certification.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Greshman Smith & Partners served as the architect on the project, with Birmingham, Ala.-based Brasfield & Gorrie as the construction manager.

A groundbreaking for the new hospital took place in 2009, followed by construction for the medical campus beginning in 2010. The new medical center opened its doors on Dec. 16, 2011.

Marcus Johnson, the medical center’s director of marketing and public relations, said the new hospital offers modern facilities after the area’s lack of a proper facility for the last four years.

“We’re still trying to, of course, get over the tornado, and it was basically like you were running two hospitals at the same time,” Johnson said. “You’re running the one you were in and trying to get ready for the one you were going to move to in a few years — that was the biggest challenge.”

The medical center is also working on recruiting doctors, many of who left after the 2007 tornado.

“We’re just trying to have a sense of normalcy,” he said.

The new hospital offers brand new equipment and is designed to be environmentally friendly, Johnson said.

“It feels like the hospital is on the cutting edge,” he said. “You wouldn’t be able to find better equipment in the U.S.”

The post New Hospital Brings Permanent Facility to Tornado-Hit Area appeared first on HCO News.

The post Turner Selected to Build $300 Million Santa Clara Hospital appeared first on HCO News.