By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – Work on Parkview Wabash Hospital is on schedule, officials from Parkview and Hagerman Construction agree.
“It’s schedule to be turned over to us April 1,” Parkview Wabash President Marilyn Custer-Mitchell told The Paper of Wabash County during a recent tour of the facility. “We’re scheduled to open June 27. We’ll do some open houses the beginning of June, and then we’ll open June 27.
“The biggest issue we’ll have from April 1 to June 27 is to train the staff. Number one, to learn the building and know where they’re going. Number two, we have, I think, over 23 new pieces of technology in the building so, especially the clinical staff, making sure they are trained and really know how to operate those things is really our focus.
“For the rest of us, it’s just figuring out where we are and how to get there.”
The new hospital is located just south of U.S. 24 between Wabash and Alber streets.
Ground for the facility was broken in late June 2016, and Custer-Mitchell drives by the site en route to the current hospital on East Street.
“I love it,” she said of watching the day-to-day changes at the site. “I love seeing it progress. And I love being able to come in. I come in at least weekly, sometimes twice a week, with tours and stuff.
“It’s fun right now because the progress is so visible. At first it’s hard to even see it, because I’m not a construction person. I just see more stuff in the ceiling and it doesn’t mean anything. But now we’re getting more walls up, we’re getting paint done, so I like it now. It’s fun.”
Overseeing the project for Hagerman is Wabash resident Adam Whitmer. This is the first time he’s overseen a hospital project.
“There’s not enough time to say,” he joked when asked what he’s learned throughout the project.
“The MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) portion of the trades has been a big eye-opener for me,” he continued. “The basic construction of it is pretty normal, other than firewalls and district codes that you have to comply with.
“But the above ceiling coordination has been a real eye-opener for me. It’s much more complicated than your standard, commercial building.”
Whitmer is proud to have been tasked with overseeing the work in his hometown.
“I was born in Wabash County Hospital,” he said. “This will probably be the last hospital built in this area in my lifetime. It’s real cool to be a part of that.
“It will be a proud notch in my resume.”
There are several new innovations planned for the Parkview Wabash facility, Custer-Mitchell and Whitmer noted on the tour.
For example, a series of tubes, similar to pneumatic tubes found at bank drive-up windows, will be located throughout the facility.
“Our lab blood draw is in the front of the building, because most of our patients come for lab, radiology and out patient service, so that’s all in the front,” Custer-Mitchell said. “They can draw the patient’s blood, then put it in the tube and it comes (to the lab area).”
There are nine locations – eight in the hospital and one in the adjacent medical office building – from which items can be sent to different departments in the facility.
The concept was originally pulled from plans because of cost, Custer-Mitchell said, “but our Foundation stepped up and paid for that.”
Another thing provided through Foundation funds is a video integration system.
“It lets the surgeon pull up whatever images he wants on various screens,” Custer-Mitchell explained. “It can be anything from the scope he is using, to something from medical records, to a radiology view, to a radiology report. Anything he needs to go up there; it allows the staff to do it and move it from screen to screen, very quickly with the click of a button.
“Now we have to go out of one system and get another system connected. It’s just not very efficient.
“That’s becoming the norm,” Custer-Mitchell continued. “Tube systems aren’t, yet. They’re nice, they’re convenient, but they’re not really necessary.”
The Foundation also is providing a walking path around a pond located south of the hospital, she noted.
As for the medical office complex, work was expected to be finished by Jan. 1.
“I don’t think they’ll quite make it, but they’re close,” Custer-Mitchell said.
The facility is owned by a developer and will be leased to Parkview Health.
“The finishes are much further along, but I don’t think they’ll quite make it. But they will be done in early January, and Parkview will take occupancy of that at that point. Nobody is going to move in. All the physicians’ offices and everything in the hospital will all move together on June 27. We’ll actually be moving some things before then, but the patients will be moved then.”