PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson Healthcare’s new Emergency and Special Services building is intended to meet both current and future health care needs, according to the hospital’s CEO.
“The new building will provide better space for the services we are currently providing and provides more space in other areas of the hospital,” said Mike Glenn about the project which is scheduled to receive patients in summer 2016.
“We are looking out 20 years to anticipate where health care is going and attempt to meet those needs, as opposed to where health care was yesterday.”
The ceremonial groundbreaking for the project will occur at 10 a.m. today on the Sheridan Street side of the Jefferson Healthcare campus by the Outpatient Specialty Clinic entrance.
The 50,000 square-foot, $20 million building represents one of the largest capital projects in Jefferson County’s history and will have a significant economic impact on the area, Glenn said.
Its footprint also includes room for growth, with about 3,000 square feet that will be left unfinished in order to accommodate future health care needs, Glenn said.
The new building will change access to the hospital, moving the main entrance to the Sheridan Street side instead of the less convenient waterside entrance now in use.
It will also include an expanded emergency department, an orthopedic clinic, and an improved and dedicated cardiology services space supporting the latest in cardiac test procedures.
It will also include a modern cancer treatment center and infusion services area where patients will look out on a water view while receiving chemotherapy treatment.
A comprehensive women’s imaging center with the newest equipment in 3-D mammography, ultrasound and bone density scanning is also part of the plan.
The new building would require the demolition of two older buildings now used for the human resources, information technology, and performance-enhancement departments, as well as storage and maintenance.
Glenn said the project has two phases: The new building will be completed and ready for patients in summer 2016 while the renovation of other departments will take another four months to complete.
The first phase of the project will affect the area around the cafeteria, during which time food production will be moved off-site. The hospital is negotiating with the Port Townsend School District for use of the Blue Heron Middle School cafeteria for the summer months.
By the time the school year begins, that phase of the project will be completed.
“There won’t be any patient-service disruptions during construction,” Glenn said.
“There will be some temporary changes to food service as it is hard to manage infection control during a construction project.”
The construction will also require traffic rerouting.
Some Americans with Disabilities Act parking spaces will be shifted and restriped around the campus to ensure patient access.
The Ninth Street section leading to the hospital and the two parking lots on either side of the street will be closed, and the parking lot with access off of Sheridan Street will be open to emergency department patients and their families only.
Patients and family members can access the emergency entrance via a pedestrian walkway from the lot.
There will be several 20-minute parking and handicapped-parking spaces closest to the building.
This lot will become a “no outlet” parking lot; cars will enter and exit the same way.
Ambulance access will be rerouted to 10th and Cleveland streets to a temporary emergency vehicles only entrance on the north side of the building.
Glenn said the hospital addition is only one aspect of the local infrastructure improvements, which include a new Peninsula College branch in Fort Worden State Park, also scheduled for a 2016 occupancy, followed by a new YMCA building which could open by 2020.
“This is really satisfying,” Glenn said about beginning construction.
“It took a four years to get the process started, but there are a lot of details needed to complete complicated projects. So they take a long time.”
For construction updates, visit http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Construction.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
