Industry News

Promise Hospital of MissLou celebrated the official beginning of construction on its new $16 million, 49,826-sf facility in Vidalia, La., in February of 2008. The two-story, 48-bed long term acute care (LTAC) hospital will feature all private rooms, eight ICU rooms, laboratory services, radiology, a respiratory department, and a physical therapy gym. The facility will be constructed to meet the International Energy Conservation Code and will replace an existing facility in Ferriday.

Battelle received a multiple-award contract from the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE) in February of 2008. With an estimated ceiling of $3 billion over a five year period, the contract allows Battelle to provide architectural and engineering services for environmental, military construction, military family housing, and facility sustainment, restoration, and modernization projects at Air Force and other military installations throughout the U.S. and at operating locations worldwide.

Providence Medical Center opened the 11-story, 490,000-sf square foot Providence Cancer Center in Portland, Ore., in February of 2008. Designed by Zimmer, Gunsul, Frasca Partnership, the multi-phase project was built by Turner Construction with groundbreaking in 2005. Consolidating cancer services in a single location, the $204 million facility includes a $2 million linear accelerator, space for clinical trials and translational research, and 21 surgical suites.

3M announced in February of 2008 the release of the Amelior™ suite of real-time workflow automation solutions from Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS) to its healthcare customer base. The Amelior software comprises hospital-wide and department-specific workflow information systems to improve patient flow and reduce the risk of medical errors.

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is planning to construct the 130,000-sf Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Funded by $60 million from the state of Florida and $53 million in infrastructure expenditures from the city of Port St. Lucie, the facility will operate on funds from National Institutes of Health research grants. The project, to be constructed in the Florida Center for Innovation at Tradition over three years, will be modeled on OHSU’s Beaverton facility with which it will be affiliated.