A Facility for the Future
Saint Clare’s Hospital Builtwith Cutting-Edge Technologies
By Diane M. Calabrese
Summer 2005 will bring its usual bountyand beauty to central Wisconsin, as wellas something more. The season will seethe opening of the new 107-bed Saint Clare’sHospital, a Ministry Health Care (MHC) facility.When MHC saw a need for more medicalservices in the growing community ofWeston, the Milwaukee-based group decidedto take action.
“The whole community is aware of the project,” says Rick Zimmerman, Senior Project Engineer with M.A. Mortenson Company, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “There is nothing quite like it in the area.”
Mortenson’s Milwaukee office is managing the high-visibility project, ensuring the approximately $100-million job, which includes the Saint Clare’s Hospital proper and a joint venture between MHC and Marshfield Clinic of Weston, stays on track. Zimmerman’s responsibility is to coordinate and manage all the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing subcontractors.
Among those contractors is Parsons Electric LLC, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the main electrical contractor. Parsons is performing all the electrical work except for building controls. Cutting-edge systems will be a hallmark of the Saint Clare’s project, says Paul J. Gruettner, P.E., Associate Vice President of Electrical Engineering at Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. (HGA). Gruettner is also the Electrical Project Engineer for the effort in Weston. “HGA is providing full architectural, engineering, planning, programming, and interior design services” for the project, he explains.
Special Features
Everyone working on the Saint Clare’s project has focused on looking ahead in terms of equipment and technology. For example, a rotary flywheel power source will provide uninterruptible electricity to critical systems, explains Gruettner, thereby eliminating the need for batteries. Other special features of the new medical facility will include voice integration on the nurse call system, which sends messages directly to the nurse responsible for a patient. Wireless communications are also in the works for the entire building. In addition, a virtual intensive care unit will let physicians assess patients using information relayed to remote locations or wherever a physician is at the time.
Installing such systems takes know-how, and Parsons Electric is putting its hospital-work track record into service. Parsons has tapped its expertise to help Mortenson and HGA find design solutions as the project progresses, explains Larry Hinsa, Project Manager with Parsons Electric. The Saint Clare’s Hospital preconstruction work commenced in late 2002, and Parsons was onsite by October 2003.
One challenging feature of the project is its size and complexity. “The main medical complex is essentially split into six interconnected buildings,” Hinsa explains. One of them is the power plant, while the others are designated for patient care, diagnostic services, and office facilities.
In the course of its work, Parsons will lay the electrical lifelines to the complex. “Parsons will log nearly 100,000 labor hours on this project,” says Hinsa.
Always at the forefront of technological tools, Parsons is using a computer- aided design (CAD) program onsite. “We have a full-time person coordinating drawings with the architectural elevations in each room of the complex,” says Hinsa. CAD enhances the work of the field electrician, explains Hinsa. For instance, when the electrician enters a room, he has a binder in hand showing all the walls that have critical locations for devices.
Partners All Around
On any construction job, coordination among subcontractors must be matched with cooperation. Sequencing, staging, and good outcomes demand harmony at the jobsite.
Such easy give-and-take has abounded on the Saint Clare’s project. “This is our first opportunity to work with the Parsons team,” says James Beaudry, Project Manager for Tweet Garot Mechanical, Inc., of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Tweet Garot is the primary provider of plumbing, medical gas piping, as well as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
“Working alongside Parsons has been a very positive experience,” says Beaudry. Working closely with the design team and the management team as schematics for layout and structure are developed is particularly gratifying for him.
The expanse of the Saint Clare’s project actually increased after work began. After the construction planning started, Marshfield Clinic decided it was interested in forming a joint venture to provide services in the areas of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computed tomography), ambulatory surgery, and radiation oncology.
The logistics of the joint venture between Saint Clare’s and Marshfield Clinic are in development. But the entity will probably operate as a company independent of Saint Clare’s and MHC. [See the most recent updates about the progress of the Saint Clare’s complex at the Ministry Health Care Web site: www.ministryhealth.org.]
Tight Schedule, Big Accomplishments
The campus of Saint Clare’s Hospital will include a 107-bed hospital space with 72 beds immediately available and a shell with space for another 24 beds. An 11-bed obstetrics unit will also be part of the facility. 
The 253,000-square-foot hospital building, 80,000-square-foot medical office building, 12,000-square-foot power plant, and 88,000-square-foot Marshfield Clinic all fit onto a 40-acre site. All the structures are new builds. As a result, the timeline is a challenge.
With just two years from ground breaking to occupant takeover, the time frame for the Saint Clare’s project is relatively short. “All the subcontractors were aware of the tight schedule,” says Zimmerman. “They bought into it from day one.”
With a June 28, 2005, opening planned, the hospital should begin admitting patients in October 2005.
Solstice Plus Seven
The opening of the doors at Saint Clare’s Hospital in Weston so soon after the summer solstice will symbolize a new dawn for the greater Wausau area in Marathon County. The health-care complex will serve the entire Wausau region, including a good portion of the county.
The planning that went into the hospital began with a group of people with intimate knowledge of how a successful health-care facility should be built. MHC, a Catholic system, pulled together more than 20 teams and committees to advance the process.
The clarity of thinking that led to the Saint Clare’s Hospital began with attention to accessibility. “The new campus will be strategically located along Highway 29,” says Gruettner. Moreover, MHC asked HGA “to perform a best land-use assessment [and] develop a master plan” to ensure the complex was totally integrated with the community. Ultimately, MHC asked HGA to design the Saint Clare’s Hospital.
MHC has provided health care in northern and central Wisconsin for more than 110 years. The complex in Weston allows it to expand and augment its mission. “This will be a tremendous addition to the Wausau area,” says Beaudry, capturing a sentiment shared by many. “Being able to create an entire health-care facility for this community, I believe, gives us all a great feeling of accomplishment.”
