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An air of excitement surrounded Beebe Medical Center recently as board members and officials of Wohlsen Construction Company and Ewing Cole Architects came together to celebrate the official groundbreaking of the construction project to build the Rollins Wing expansion.
With hard hats on and shovels in hand, simultaneously they pushed their shovels into the ground and tossed the soil in front of them.
“This moment represents a dream come true for many of us,” said Paul H. Mylander, Beebe Medical Center board treasurer and chairman of the Vision 2005 capital campaign, which successfully raised more than $12.3 million, a record for Beebe Medical Center.
A portion of that money will go toward the expansion of the Emergency Department.
“This day represents the commitment by so many people to insure we continue to have the most advanced medical facilities in our community.”
While the focus of this $35 million project has been the doubling of the size of the Emergency Department, the new building also will allow the Critical Care Unit to nearly double in size, the Medical Center to add another 42 inpatient beds and the addition of two operating rooms in an adjoining building. The roof of the new building also will be the site of the new helipad, where helicopters land and take off as they get critically ill patients to the best possible medical care.
When completed, the three-story wing, including the remodeled existing Emergency Department, will be more than 70,360 square feet in size.
“The communities that we serve are growing at an astounding rate and we want to be ready to serve them,” said Jeffrey M. Fried, Beebe Medical Center president and CEO. “This expansion, as well as the other projects now taking place, will allow us to continue to bring needed services and facilities to our communities.”
Site excavation and foundation work is ongoing. Because of the congestion that is caused on the east side of the hospital, visitors are being asked to park in the parking garage on the west side of the hospital in non-emergency situations. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2007.
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