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61 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, September 12, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend August 13, 2003 Construction workers pour concrete onto a new parking garage under construction at Rogue Valley Medical Center Tuesday. Workers hope to open the ground floor in September and finish the garage by Nov. 1. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Operation concrete: area hospitals expand By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Construction projects are changing the look of Medford’s two hospitals. A four-story parking garage soon will be completed at Rogue Valley Medical Center, and workers at Providence Medford Medical Center have finished the demolition phase of a project that will expand the hospital’s emergency department and medical laboratory. RVMC’s parking garage, just west of the Smullin Center, is the first component of a three-year, $93 million project that will include a larger emergency department, improved surgery suites and more single-occupant rooms in an elliptical four-level "bed tower." Providence will spend about $5.4 million to nearly double the size of its emergency department by 2005. The project also provides substantially more space for the hospital’s lab equipment. Advertisement Growing demand for emergency-room services prompted both hospitals to expand their emergency departments. In recent years, emergency room visits to both hospitals have grown by about 8 percent per year. Providence served about 25,000 emergency patients during 2002; Rogue Valley saw about 33,500. Workers plan to pour the last big batch of concrete for RVMC’s parking garage next Tuesday, said Bill Maibusch, construction supervisor for DPR Construction, the general contractor. Workers plan to finish the garage by Nov. 1, but hope to open the ground floor sometime in September to provide more parking space close to the hospital. Maibusch said a string of 100-degree days in late July forced workers to take extra care to prevent concrete from drying too quickly. "You don’t want it to dry out too fast," Maibusch said, "or you’ll get excessive cracking." Workers slowed the concrete’s drying by mixing it with cold water, and pouring water over the reinforcing steel to cool the metal just prior to burying it in fresh concrete. They also kept the concrete moistened with water while it dried. Maibusch said workers plan to finish the hospital’s new helicopter landing site by Nov. 1, and then start on the new patient rooms. At Providence, crews have finished demolition work that clears the way for a new emergency department and medical laboratory, along with a new building to house the hospital’s MRI machine. Providence spokeswoman Deborah Elliott said the outer shell of the new emergency department waiting room should be finished by the end of November. Access to the Providence emergency department from Crater Lake Avenue will remain unchanged during the construction. A small dark-gray temporary building with dark blue trim will serve as the emergency department’s admitting area during the construction. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities