Local dignitaries on hand for hospital ceremony

In sunshine with a gentle breeze, Kalispell Regional Medical Center marked the lifting of the new surgical tower’s first structural steel Thursday with prayers, nods to history and words of thanks from the mayor and hospital dignitaries.

Dr. Craig Eddy, chief of the medical staff, read an Irish blessing by John O’Donohue:

“The generous disturbance of birth,

 The anxieties of old age unclenching into grace

 And the final elegance of calmly embraced death.

 May the life of this building enter

 Into this inheritance of spirit.”

In late December, Swank Construction began work on the first phase of the $42 million tower. Work is set to finish in October 2012.

Phase one includes eight operating rooms and shells for four more, 18 same-day surgery beds, 18 post-anesthesia care beds, two endoscopy and two fluoroscopy procedure rooms and a shell for 30 future patient beds.

The initial structure will rise three stories with enough steel support to add fourth and fifth floors for future hospital beds.

After an opening prayer by hospital Chaplain Carolyn Kuhn, Eddy began the ceremony by referring to the hospital’s beginnings with Ella Weber in 1894 and carried forward by the Sisters of Mercy in 1910, adding that the hospital was “truly blessed” to have this modern infrastructure.

Brief remarks followed by Dr. Karl Oehrtman, chief of surgery, accompanied by Jackie Van VanHelden, a nurse who worked in the last surgery performed at the old location and the first performed at the present location.

Jeannie Luckey, chairwoman of the hospital board, said the board had worked several years to find a fiscally responsible way to build this addition.

“But this is really not about finances,” Luckey said. “It’s about giving the physicians and surgeons a place with the tools and technology to take care of  the patients of this valley and surrounding areas.”

Kalispell Mayor Tammi Fisher, who works as a legal consultant to the hospital, thanked the hospital for contributing to the economic prosperity of this area by creating jobs for tradesmen. Eddy added his thanks to Tom Jentz of city planning and Kalispell Fire Chief Dan Diehl for “helping move the project forward.”

After reading the Irish blessing, Eddy handed the microphone to Sister Roxanne Dolak, the last of the Sisters of Mercy, who noted that in September her order celebrated its 100th anniversary of the start of Kalispell General Hospital.

“Yesterday, I was the first person to sign this beam,” she said.

She repeated the same message that she wrote on a similar employee-signed beam for the existing patient tower, blessing each person who enters the building. After the ceremony, the sister peered up the 165-foot crane that seemed to pierce the sky.

“I’ll bet the sisters in heaven, when they started that little cottage, never thought it would go this far.”

At the end of ceremony, Eddy gave the nod for the crane operator and crew to lift into the air the 2,900-pound beam covered by dozens of signatures and messages such as Sister Roxanne’s. The operator deftly dropped it through a 36-inch-square hole where it came to rest on a footing in the old lab space.

“For seven years it’s been empty, waiting for this,” said Marcello Pierrottet, design and construction director for the hospital.

According to Pierrottet, the contractor and crew spent the last two months working on the foundation to support the steel structure and relocating conduit and ducts in imaging and the old lab area.

“We replaced a 30-year-old air handling system so we’ll have a much more efficient system,” he said. “A lot of that work has been happening at night.”

He complimented the staff, particularly the imaging employees, for dealing with the disruption from the indoor renovations.

“They’ve been dealing with a lot of noise,” Pierrottet said. “They’ve been very good to work with so far.”

The imaging area was gutted and an X-ray machine decommissioned in advance of Swank remodeling the space that includes more private dressing rooms. Pierrottet said the space should look brand new when completed.

“We’ve had to take over a lot of space to reconfigure it for a better flow for patients,” he said.

 By mid-April, Pierrottet expects to have the first imaging area and respiratory therapy space finished. He said the respiratory therapy employees were ecstatic about gaining a permanent home after moving from place to place for six or seven years.

The construction team has done everything possible to expedite the indoor remodeling that always goes slowly because of logistics working around people and existing structures, Pierrottet said.

 He said the job has proceeded like most with a few problems, including a drill going through a roof drain pipe. Pierrottet said that was pretty quickly repaired.

“It’s been the usual OMGs,” he said with a laugh. “We’re pretty much where we need to be to finish in October of 2012.”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com .