It was a night of good news for hospital trustees at their meeting Tuesday.
A combination of favorable bids and savings from other measures created an additional $1,035,767 for spending.
“We had a good bid day,” said David Wright, architect with Health Facilities Group.
Trustees spent much of the night looking at a list of 20 alternate projects they had previously thought they could not afford.
By night’s end, trustees had “spent” $999,105 for several big-ticket items.
Despite the spree, trustees retained a construction contingency fund of $750,000 and has another of about $770,000 protected in its operational fund.
THE TOP PRIORITY is as an expansion to the hospital to include four new patient rooms as well as a nursing station.
The expansion would add 2,450 square feet to the building. In Cris Rivera’s opinion, the additional rooms would give the hospital a marketing advantage of saying it is an all-private-bed hospital.
“Every single patient in here would never have to worry about having a roommate,” said Rivera, chief executive officer of Allen County Hospital.
“This would really limit the chance we’d ever have to double-up patients,” she said.
Phil Schultze, construction manager of Murray Construction, said building the additional rooms “will never be this economical again.”
If trustees were to add the rooms at a later date, it likely would cost “$250,000 more,” Wright said. Reimbursements by the federal government for construction of the patient rooms will be in the neighborhood of 50-75 percent, Wright said. The reimbursements come because the hospital serves Medicare patients.
Providing a canopy to shelter those pulling up to use the emergency room was also among new items.
The main entrance to the hospital will have a covered entrance. And ambulance pulling into the hospital will have access to a garage directly linked to the building.
But the 73-year-old bringing his elderly mother to the emergency room does not have protection from the elements. This issue is particularly close to the heart of Harry Lee, chairman of hospital trustees.
“It’s a step backward from what we have today,” Lee said.
