One of the interesting things the hospital board is learning in the process of starting the $22.5 million renovation/expansion of the Cook County North Shore Hospital and Care Center is finding just where the property lines are for the facilities.
A question came up about the east line, marked by the 5th Avenue/ old Gunflint Trail. Because the Gunflint Trail moved, just where do the hospital grounds now end? That will be settled with a survey, said Hospital/Care Center Administrator Kimber Wraalstad at the board’s April 28 meeting.
Meanwhile Boldt Construction, project manager for the two-year expansion/renovation, will use the old clinic building (and former Masonic building) as its headquarters. Groundwork is supposed to begin in early June.
Wraalstad said she was continuing to seek a grant from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) for $350,000. Since the money has to be given to a municipality the City of Grand Marais has agreed to accept the money if granted for the hospital to use toward infrastructure work (ground work, electrical, sewer, curb and gutters).
Although the board has hosted a half dozen occasions to meet and greet and explain the hospital and care center project, few people have shown up, so Wraalstad said she was ready to go meet with groups of people to explain what was taking place. She asked the board for ideas and Tom Spence suggested she attend some West End flower club meetings and the senior lunches at Birch Grove. Kay Olson suggested Wraalstad attend Lioness and Lions Club meetings, which Wraalstad said she has already done. However, she said would be happy to visit with both groups. The board members all thought her approach was a good one and will come back with other places she could go to meet with people.
Health Care Foundation helping hospital
Barb Heideman gave the board an update about the North Shore Health Care Foundation (NSHCF). In the first quarter of 2015 the NSHCF gave grants totaling $37,000. In light of the many things that will be needed to complete the renovation of the facilities, Heideman urged the board to seek a grant from the NSHCF.
Heideman also told the board that the Care Partners, a program long supported by NSHCF is branching out to become its own 501(c) 3. Care Partners will continue to partner with NSHCF, said Heideman, and will continue to offer caregiver support, advance care planning, volunteer companionship and assisted transportation. The new designation will allow Care Partners to solicit more funds and help it to continue to grow and serve Cook County’s aging population.
Hopes for Hospital Capital Improvement Grant
After receiving a favorable review of the first of a two-part grant application for a Rural Hospital Capital Improvement grant submitted December 2014, Wraalstad told the board, “We were invited to submit a final application for our Microbiology Upgrade Project. “The project includes the purchase and implementation of a new Microbiology Analyzer and Meditech Microbiology Module. Total cost of the project is $100,000, but if the grant is awarded it will provide $80,000,” said Wraalstad.
Wraalstad said notification should be received in the near future about the grant award.
IT host transfer
Wraalstad said on April 30 the hospital and care center will begin the process of transferring its information technology provider away from SISU to St. Luke’s.
The move will save time and money, said Wraalstad.
Currently the information technology department consists of Greg Johnson who is onsite and is responsible for the phone system, the personal computers, and is the HIPAA security officer. Pam Faye is the IT clinical computer application specialist. Her duties include setting up clinical modules, data integration, and meaningful use requirements. Off site, SISU is used for email, Meditech hosting, antivirus, server support, network housing, and custom reports etc.
SISU was formed almost 20 years ago as a consortium of large and small hospitals in order to make Meditech an affordable option for smaller community hospitals, but over time some hospitals switched from Meditech hosting to other software systems. When that happened the remaining hospitals started to see their costs go up. If the hospital were to stay with SISU, from 2013 to 2016 costs will increase a whopping 116 percent.
Vera Schumann, hospital/ care center financial director and Johnson told the board that St. Luke’s uses Meditech and, because there is a current management agreement in place it is the most logical options. St. Luke’s is the most cost effective, said Schumann.
The board voted unanimously to make St. Luke’s the facility’s IT host.
Biomass discussion
Wraalstad said she and Hospital Maintenance Supervisor Rory Smith and Rebecca Lewis of DSGW architects took part in a conference call on April 9 with Mark Spurr, president of FVB Energy, and CCLEP’s Paul Nelson regarding the biomass project.
Lewis spoke about the phasing of the building project and the rationale for including the boiler replacement in Phase 1.
Wraalstad said that Don Abbott, director of maintenance and engineering for Regions Hospital in St. Paul and Mike Burns, vice president for District Energy St. Paul, a biomass heating plant that services Regions, also took part in the call. Abbott talked about the hospital’s need for maintaining redundancy.
Spurr didn’t like the first heat projections he received from the hospital’s hired mechanical engineer and he requested that the engineer review the work and resubmit it to him. Until the revised numbers are received, Spurr can’t make his determination for what the costs will be for the 17 other clients that have indicated they want to be part of this heating district. The hospital, if it decides to accept terms of a 25-year commitment, will be onethird of the entire project.
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