Construction of a $19.5 million project that includes a three-story addition to Athol Hospital is well underway, with a target completion date one year away, according to Winfield “Win” Brown, chief executive officer of Heywood Healthcare.
Site preparation is mostly complete, along with concrete footings and the beginnings of concrete walls. The structure at 2033 Main St. will contain 52,000 square feet of usable space to house an enlarged, up-to-date emergency department and offices for both primary care physicians and specialists.
Brown was accompanied recently by Amanda MacFadgen, Heywood’s director of marketing and public relations, as he explained what is happening on the site, while offering details on the structure’s eventual use. At present, rebar is being put in place by workmen wearing hard hats in anticipation of the delivery of tons of concrete to create a large retaining wall. Rebar is short for reinforcing bar, a steel bar or mesh of steel wires used as a tension device in reinforced concrete.
Anyone from the public who wants to observe the work in progress is welcome to stand behind a fence to the right of the current main entrance. The superintendent or “owner’s representative” on the project is Stanley Hunter, senior vice president of Colliers International’s developing and consulting group.
Also keeping a close eye on the project is Darrin Langlois, facilities manager of the Athol Hospital, who attends weekly construction meetings. The chief operating officer of the Athol Hospital, Tina Griffin, who is also vice president for patient care, stays connected to the project, as well.
SMRT Architects and Engineers, with offices in Portland, Maine, Andover, and Albany, N.Y. is the primary contractor. This company does work in key markets of healthcare, justice, government, corporate and the science/technology/industry. Information and photos of SMRT’s projects can be seen on its website: www.smrtinc.com.
To accommodate the retaining wall, a large amount of earth has been excavated from a slope that went from the upper hospital parking lot to the lower lot near the ambulance entrance. A mountain of this earth — some of which will be used later for site restoration and landscaping — can be seen by passing motorists on Main Street at its intersection with Mechanic Street. A small building there, formerly Boys Donut Shop, was purchased by the hospital and razed.
A major feature of the new building is a new entrance accessed from the same upper parking lot. There will be no need for steps or a ramp, both of which are at the current main entrance — that will be eliminated and bricked up.
From the upper parking level, the new building, with a brick façade, will appear to be only two stories, because the ground floor is at a lower grade. People who enter the main entryway — on what is the main floor or middle floor — can turn left to go to old hospital where various inpatient and outpatient services will remain, or they can turn right to reach doctors’ offices. The entire top floor will be leased to Clinical & Support Options (CSO), a nonprofit currently offering psychotherapy and related behavioral health services in downtown Athol.
A sign at the upper right corner of the building will feature the Heywood logo of three human figures and the words “Athol Hospital,” which is the correct current name. While the old name, Athol Memorial Hospital, was officially dropped several years ago (following the merger with Heywood), the old sign on the original 1950 building is likely to remain, Brown said, adding that a definite decision has not been made about that.
A two-story atrium will provide a welcome atmosphere for people entering the building, they said, and a stairwell will be well-lit through translucent walls, and of course there will be elevators. Every area will be accessible for people with limited mobility.
The ground floor of the new building will be accessed from Mechanic Street, and there will be expanded parking created there, including the site of the current Medical Arts Building. That structure, built in the 1970s, will be demolished, but not until the new one is ready for occupancy.
The plan is for that change to take place in May 2019. In other words, it will be business as usual in the Medical Arts Building until the new structure is completed, Brown said.
The new emergency department will offer space and privacy that has long been lacking in the old area. There will be a dozen patient rooms, including a layout that allows five of them to be designated and designed for people with mental health issues. The ambulance entrance will be on the end of the structure, completely separate from the location where people will walk into the lower level of the building.
The new building will be attached to the old one. Adjacent to the new emergency department — in what is now the current ER area — the radiology department will offer full services including routine X-rays, mammograms, ultrasounds and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The MRI equipment will continue to be contained in a trailer, but its location will be convenient to the rest of the radiology department.
Heywood has just opened its new “walk-in care center” in the North Quabbin Commons, and Brown explained that this will meet the needs of some patients currently going to the ER for issues that are not life-threatening. However, he said, research has shown that the need for expanded ER services will continue.
“Walk-in care,” he noted, is the correct terminology for what others have called an “urgent care” facility. Under federal government rules, the term “urgent care” is not permitted, since Athol Hospital has a special rural healthcare facility status. The walk-in care center is located in the same building occupied by Tully Family Medicine, which is a Heywood Healthcare subsidiary, but the staffs are separate.
Brown offered details on the financing package for the project, explaining that $19.5 million is the total actual cost. There are four sources of money: 1) $11 million in debt service (via tax-exempt bonds), 2) $4.5 million net from a $17 million New Market Tax Credit Program, 3) $1 million from Heywood Healthcare, and 4) $3 million through a capital campaign.
Brown expressed enthusiasm for the progress of the capital campaign, dubbed “Fulfilling our Promise,” which is already underway with receipt of $2.3 million from major donors and businesses. This leaves a goal of $700,000 to be raised, including donations in any amount from residents. He praised the work of the “tri-chairs’ leading the campaign — Cheney Castine, David Hillis and Doug Starrett.
He said that a previous report of a $28,150,000 financing package from the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency did not clearly distinguish between net proceeds and the gross funding (market value of the federal new market tax credits) in the federal tax credit program.
Athol Memorial Hospital accepted its first patients in 1950, following years of fundraising and construction on the site of the former Sawyer mansion. Additions to the original building were built in 1958 and 1967.