Construction Update
February 1, 2007

Q. What progress has been made with the new patient tower planning process?

A. This week, George Pressler and Benjamin Rosales of Planning Decision Resources (PDR) are visiting to start planning and programming our new facility, and the administrative team developed a vision statement for the project and discussed protocols for standardizing and allocating space.

The project vision is: 

We, the Butler Health System, shall renew ourselves in our mission of service to the community. We will design care that honors the patient, family, physician and employee.

Q. When will BHS employees be brought into the process?

A. Beginning February 2, Ken DeFurio will be hosting a “Kick-Off Meeting” for the department Directors and administration. At that meeting, Directors will receive more information about the project and will also be given several assignments as we continue to gather information to help determine the design for the new tower.

With the data received from directors, PDR’s staff will do preliminary analysis to prepare for user group meetings. These meetings will be held the week of February 19 and will involve employees and physicians from all services. Larry Moore will be coordinating the scheduling for these meetings. If you are asked to attend, please do your best to be there for these important forums.

Q. Will departments have to move or re-locate to accommodate construction process?

You will soon see some departments move to a different location to accommodate the building project. Currently, the Medical Library on the first floor is being moved to the Physician’s Lounge (also on floor 1), and the Diabetes Management Center on the second floor will move to the space formerly occupied by the Library. This will allow the Project Management offices and the Project “Command Center” to move into the current Diabetes location. The new “Command Center” will have information readily available to anyone who needs to see how the planning, design and construction are progressing.

While disruptive and at times aggravating, you can expect many moves of this type throughout the construction project.

Q. Is the Nixon-Sarver Building still slated for demolition?

A. We continue to prepare for the demolition of the Nixon-Sarver Building with work progressing on the relocation of staff and physicians. We will also need to relocate some utilities before demolition can occur. For example, all of our phone lines route through the Nixon-Sarver building and these lines need to be re-routed before demolition can begin.

While we are certain the Nixon-Sarver building will be demolished, we have not finalized the location for the new tower. It is likely the new facility will be located in that general area, however we need to finalize planning, programming and the site assessment before the final decision will be made.

Q. Are studies still underway for other aspects of the project?

A. Work continues on the site assessment and we are expecting reports over the next few weeks from the surveyor, parking and traffic consultant, the soils engineer and the environmental engineer. This information will help us to make decisions and plan.

We will soon look for assessments from a design architect, an information systems planning expert and a medical equipment-planning consultant.

If you have questions about the project, please let your department Director know or contact Larry Moore at ext 4013.