|
|
The North Shore Health has lost potential employees in the past because those interested folks couldn’t find housing. Even temporary housing for employees who travel to work here has at times become difficult to offer.
In the report to the hospital board for March 18, North Shore Health (NSH) Hospital Director Kimber Wraalstad unveiled plans to add more living quarters located adjacent to the hospital in the former Masonic Temple.
Before the recent building renovation in 2015, North Shore Health had two rooms that were used as sleeping quarters. These were small spaces approximately 8×10 that were located behind the Hospital Nurses Station.
These rooms were used either by employees who were on call and had to come in multiple times during the night or by employees who lived outside of the county and who would come and work multiple days in a row.
However, during the recent reconstruction of the hospital, the two rooms were used for the Emergency Room Physician, and the employee space was eliminated.
To replace that lost space for employees who lived outside of the county, a room in the back of the ambulance garage with a shower and bathroom was used, but because it was just one large room, it didn’t allow for separate sleeping quarters.
During the recent reconstruction of the North Shore Health building, plans to remodel the lower level of the hospital included three sleeping rooms with a bathroom but that was changed when the Human Resource Department needed additional office space.
The conundrum continued.
Meanwhile, Wraalstad said that over the last two years, the number of employees versus volunteers on the ambulance service has increased by six, with three of those employees not living in Cook County and another employee living further than five miles from the Ambulance Garage. Also, the Paramedic Shift Coordinator lives only a mile away, but her driveway is impassable in bad weather. This results in the Ambulance garage being used every night by one or two Emergency Medical Technicians who sleep there.
Wraalstad also noted that a Laboratory Technologist who lives more than 20 minutes from the hospital would sleep in a hospital room when she was on call.
“What we have determined is that our ability to provide routine service is hampered by available housing,” She also stated that any future health emergency or critical incident such as a wildfire would highlight the same concerns with housing of on-call employees and employees working double shifts.
However, when a roof leak was discovered in the former Masonic Temple building and work began to repair the roof, it got some hospital employees to think about how that building could be used for more than storage. The hospital bought the building and land in 2012. During the recent buildout, the building was used by BOLDT construction as a headquarters for the two-year construction project. Since BOLDT finished the construction and left, the space has been used for storage.
The roof should be repaired sometime this March.
Wraalstad said Chris Lange, Maintenance Director, and his employees created the design for the building. They worked with local contractors to obtain proposals and determine who would serve as the general contractor. Estimated cost to convert the interior space of the building into sleep quarters and to reside the exterior of the building is $171,525.
The Masonic building is located north of the Clinic parking lot and plans have been drawn up to convert the former Chapter meeting room into five individual sleeping rooms, each with their own door. The space currently has two bathrooms and a kitchen. Under the proposed remodel, the bathrooms would be enhanced to include showers that could be used by employees at the end of their shifts. A washer and dryer hookup is also available, and those appliances could be included if needed.
North Shore Health has COVID-19 Provider Relief Funds that can be used to pay for the project. Work has been started to clean out the building to allow for an immediate start to the project if approved by the board.
Wraalstad will request approval from the hospital board at their March 18 meeting to proceed with the remodel of the Ancillary Building (Masonic Temple) for use as an on-call employee sleep quarters and to replace the siding on the building at a cost not to exceed $171,525.
Bidding on separate pieces of the project— HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, insulation, paint and finish, demolition, and carpentry etc. has been done by local contractors, so dollars spent on the project would stay in the community.
COVID-19 vaccinations update
In her Director’s Report to the board Wraalstad noted, that the State of Minnesota reports that 44.2 percent of Cook County’s population has received one dose and 32.2 percent of the population has completed the vaccine series. In addition, 90.8 percent of the population over 65 years old has been vaccinated. As a percentage of the population, Cook County has the highest rate of vaccination in Minnesota.” Kimber thanked Cook County Public Health, Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, Grand Portage Health Services and North Shore Health for their work to vaccinate the public.
Leave a Reply