91视频

Residents on the Oregon coast from Depoe Bay and Toledo to Waldport and Yachats are closer to gaining a new hospital to serve their medical and health-related needs.

At 126,000 square feet, the new $57 million Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital under construction in Newport will offer 22 departments and a wider scope of services than the 25-bed hospital it’s replacing. The project is being paid for with money from a property tax bond measure passed by voters in 2015. Crews broke ground in May 2017 and are on track to finish by summer 2020.

Pacific Communities Health District is the project owner, and Samaritan Health Services will operate the hospital. It was designed by The Neenan Company, which also is serving as lead general contractor 鈥� in partnership with 50-year-old, Corvallis-based Gerding Builders.

The project is being handled in three phases via a method Neenan Co. calls 鈥淎rchistruction.鈥� The company adopted the approach, which combines architecture and construction rather than separating them out in the bid process, after realizing how concepts of design-build could help move forward more smoothly the types of health care projects upon which Neenan Co. has built its reputation.

鈥淭he key components of Archistruction are in line with design-build,鈥� Neenan Co. project manager Jason Brown said. 鈥淭here’s more efficient communication and better input at all levels, so the designs are more in tune with the client’s needs.鈥�

The approach meshes well with Gerding Builders’ previous experience working on approximately 20 other major health care facilities, including several for Samaritan Health Services, according to Ryan McAlister, a pre-construction manager and project executive for Gerding Builders

鈥�(Archistruction) is a great process; we figure it all out together,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his project has been an ongoing conversation and dialogue 鈥� We get to know each other, get a better idea of how to work together.鈥�

Much of that dialogue included the people who would be working in the hospital, from doctors and nurses to 鈥渢he people who keep the floors clean,鈥� Brown said. Together, the project team and the hospital staff collaborated on a floor plan. That plan was then used to create mock-ups of several rooms so that everyone could see how the designs and layouts would work in a real-world situation.

鈥淲e brought in beds, wheelchairs, equipment, mops 鈥� pretty much anything they would use 鈥� and we discussed what worked and where we could improve on things before construction started,鈥� Brown said.

Hospital administrators say the project team’s willingness to create an inclusive environment in the areas of planning, design and construction has helped drum up an extremely high level of buy-in from hospital staff that might not have been possible otherwise.

鈥淚f you ask the employees, it’s their hospital,鈥� Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital CEO Lesley Ogden said. 鈥淭hey feel invested in it.鈥�

The project was placed in seismic design zone categorized 鈥楩’ 鈥� largely because of the location near a major fault and occupants’ vulnerability 鈥� so Neenan Co. had to develop strategic designs and construction plans to meet stringent building standards.

The hospital that previously served the community was built in 1988. It will be renovated to accommodate administrative and secondary support uses.

Samaritan Health Services is a not-for-profit network of five hospitals, 80 clinics and additional health service facilities that serve residents of the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon coast.

Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital

Location: Newport

Size: 126,000 square feet

Architect: The Neenan Company

General contractors: The Neenan Company and Gerding Builders

Construction start: May 2017

Anticipated completion: summer 2020