At the request of the Cook County Ambulance crews, the Cook County North Shore Hospital board voted to include plans for a two-vehicle drive through garage to be built as part of the $20 million renovation of the hospital and care center. Patients will now be unloaded and brought into the emergency room without being exposed to the elements.
While everyone was respectful and patient, there almost wasn’t enough “straw” left for the straw polls North Shore Hospital Board Chairman Tom Spence called for at the board’s November 20 meeting.
Spence was trying to get the board to winnow (or keep) the list of items that would be included in the final drawings for the $20.682 million renovation and expansion of the hospital/care center.
The list included installing a drive-under canopy at the main entrance for $60,000; putting window seating in 30 of the planned 37 rooms in the care center at a cost of $362,500; building a drive-through garage to accommodate two vehicles instead of one for the ambulance crews at a cost of $250,000; adding one foot of space to hospital patient rooms so bench seats could be added for more seating and which could also be used for a family member to sleep for $30,000; and adding new boilers for the campus.
Under review is the plan to put in new boilers only in the hospital and feed the heat to the care center via long pipes. Rory Smith, head of maintenance, said he would work with Mike Ellingson of Bolt Construction, to try to come up the cost and find a space— maybe the biggest issue—for a portion of the boiler system to be installed in the care center and present that information to the board at its next meeting.
To keep the project on track, Rebecca Lewis of DSGW Architects said the board had to make some decisions that day so DSGW and Bolt Construction could incorporate the items discussed into the design and construction documents.
Bolt representative Ellingson said it was imperative to keep on deadline so bids for construction could be let in March.
The five items the board had to decide on totaled $700,000 over the projected budget and would have to be paid out of the hospital’s capital fund, which has about $5 million in it, with half of that to be spent on the new improvements.
Board Chair Spence asked the board to vote on the projects as a package, but with a lack of consensus the board voted on the items one-by-one.
Bay windows or bump-outs?
The biggest item was adding window seats to the care center resident rooms. Last month the initial rough estimate for the “bump-outs” were projected at about $7,500 per room, but after consultation with the construction manager from Bolt, the actual cost would be $365,000, and not $225,000, making them about $12,500 per room to complete.
Board members Sharon Bloomquist and Spence voted for the bump-outs while Kay Olson and Justin Mueller voted against with Howard Abrahamson initially undecided and finally voting no.
While the board decided against the bump-outs, Lewis suggested bay windows might be a good second option. Abrahamson said, “If you can put in bay windows without adding to the foundation and keep the cost down, we would like to look at that.”
Lewis said she would get prices soon on bay windows and get back to the board.
After a respectful back and forth discussion about adding bench seats in hospital rooms the board voted 3-2 in favor, but decided to leave the final decision to the doctors and nurses who work there. Lewis will take that discussion to the staff for a decision.
Spence said the board had to keep in perspective that this is a 30- to 40-year plan. He also noted there was $1.374 million in contingency funds for any unforeseen problems and the board was well within its budget even with the newer items.
Ambulance entrance and artwork
The board split 2-2 with one undecided on the ambulance garage. Olson was undecided until finally agreeing to make the garage bigger as requested by the ambulance crews. In response to a question by Justin Mueller, Wraalstad said that approximately 100 times a year that there are two vehicles at the ambulance entrance at the same time.
That was enough for Olson to accept a two-vehicle garage.
Following the discussion of a drive-under canopy, the board voted unanimously in favor of adding it at the main hospital/care center entrance.
Spence asked if he could spend time working with the art community to select public work for patient rooms, halls and public spaces over the next six to seven months. “Maybe we could have a competition for public art and find a way for local artists to get involved,” Spence said. The board gave Spence the go ahead to pursue this project.
E.R. registration area modified
Lewis said after consulting with nursing staff about the placement of the emergency room many felt it was too far away so DSGW went back to the drawing board and, “cut their steps in half.” Lewis said, “Now they can see the patients at the registration desk.”
Under the new drawing, the hallway will go straight back to the E.R. from the registration area located at the front entrance.
“We have gotten a very positive response from the nurse, staff and lab,” Lewis said.
In other Hospital news
. After 24 years, Theresa Hanson, director of health information management resigned her position with the Cook County North Shore Hospital and Care Center and accepted a similar position down the hall at the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic. Hanson’s last day at the hospital was November 7.
. An annual Medicare and State licensure inspection of the care center revealed one deficiency, which was corrected and upon re-inspection November 10, the facility was ruled in full compliance.
. Hospital Administrator Kimber Wraaslstad said the hospital had received a summons and complaint regarding failure to provide an American Sign Language Interpreter for a deaf patient. The matter has been sent to legal counsel, said Wraalstad.
. Telemedicine equipment has been received and installed, but work is still being done to establish the wireless connectivity, said Wraalstad. There are many options that telemedicine can provide for the hospital, including possible pulmonary rehab via telemedicine.
. Vera Schumann, director of finance, reported an operating loss of $21,291 for the month of October, and a year-to-date operating loss of $928,359, which is $462,118 behind the projected 2014 budget.
Care Center revenues are 29 percent less than the October budget, said Schumann. With non-operating income and tax levy monies, there was a net gain of $57,057 for the month of October.
. Wraalstad said department managers were in the process of developing descriptions for each position within their departments. The descriptions include behavioral expectations, service excellence, integrity, communication and quality.
. At the October meeting, the board signed an amended management service agreement between the hospital/care center and St. Luke’s Hospital. St. Luke’s provides management services (Wraalstad is an employee of St. Luke’s) and expertise in networking, analysis, education and other services as needed to the hospital and care center. A management fee of $1,000 per month was included in the renewal.
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