The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON-At their meeting last week, the Columbia County Hospital District commissioners gave the go-ahead for Jeff Jurgensen, from OAC Construction Management Services in Spokane, to move forward as the construction manager for the hospital remodel/redesign project.

Jurgensen was on hand to talk about his role on the project. He told the commissioners that the general contractor/contract manager project delivery method the hospital officials have chosen for the project makes the construction manager the overall planning and control coordinator. He will provide that role from the beginning of the project to the end.

Providing construction support service, looking for errors in drawings, providing cost estimating, performing construction scheduling reviews, providing earned value and budget management, providing value engineering service, visiting the site and observing, dispute resolutions, providing assistance with specialty contractors such as welders and electricians, and providing assistance with owner-provided equipment are some of his responsibilities, he said.

Jurgensen told the commissioners that he will be reviewing drawings and phasing plans with Blue Room Architecture and Design, and with the general contractor, Leone and Keeble, Inc.

"He sits between me and the architect and the general contractor," CCHS CEO Shane McGuire explained about Jurgensen's role.

Jurgensen said that having a construction manager on board will help eliminate issues early on, and will greatly reduce change orders.

As clerk for the project, Jurgensen said he will review all invoices from Leoni and Keeble, and he said that any risk will be assumed by the construction manager.

"From beginning to end I am Shane's eyes and ears," Jurgensen told the commissioners. "The management design team has your best interests up front," he said.

Jurgensen also said, "If we save you money, cost savings go back to the owner."

CEO Shane McGuire assured the commissioners that owner input would be invaluable. He said that he and Jurgensen will have weekly meetings.

"The community wants it to be done right," Chairman Bob Hutchens told Jurgensen.

Hutchens asked Jurgensen for clarification as to what would necessitate his being on site. Jurgensen gave the commissioners some instances requiring his presence at the project site.

"If we're shutting down power from one place to the other, or for things like hazardous material removal, I will be here," he said.

"I'm going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear," Jurgensen assured the commissioners. "If you're in trouble, I'm in trouble," Jurgensen said.

Jurgensen told the commissioners that he will put together an integration matrix, coordinating the contractor's schedule with the CEO's schedule.

McGuire said actual construction for the project should begin the third week in June, and that it will take about sixteen months to finish the project.

Work has already begun in the facility to move people and departments around, in order to free up space, McGuire said.

The human resource department has been moved to the annex, and plans are in the works to move the respiratory therapy department to a lab in the annex, and for the medical records department to move into the Luce Building, where there is a secure storage area for medical records.

McGuire said the pharmacy department will be temporarily moved into the vacated medical records department space because the location of the current pharmacy gets demolished in Phase II. Also, the new pharmacy department does not get built until Phase IV, he said.

Feedback from the Dept. of Health regarding the project has been encouraging, McGuire said. The last pre-submission meeting is on April 12, and the document set submission is targeted for the first of May.

Outreach plans

Also in his report to the commissioners, McGuire discussed his efforts at outreach and business enhancement.

McGuire said that he and team members from respiratory therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and Acute Care met with the discharge and social services team at St. Mary's Hospital in Walla Walla on March 15 to present the DGH swing bed program to them.

"We need to bring business in, build lasting relationships, and coordinate care better," he said.

The overall goal is for swing bed patients, rehabilitation patients and patients in other ancillary services to come back to DGH for follow-up treatment after they are referred out to a specialist, McGuire said.

McGuire told the commissioners about the plan he has for hiring a marketing specialist to take over those duties. That person will work on increasing case management between DGH departments, which is an essential component in making the outreach strategy successful, he said.

McGuire said the new marketing director will be partially compensated based on the business they bring to CCHS.