Lake Chelan Community Hospital plans for new hospital

CHELAN - Now that the new hospital levy has passed, the countdown toward construction has begun.
But before commissioners don their work boots and grab shovels to break ground a few steps have to be taken first.
The first step is to present to the Project Review Committee about the project, which will be handled by Lake Chelan Community Hospital and Clinic CEO Kevin Abel, project manager Barry Leahy and general contractor Dick Bratton on July 27.
“We’ll present the application with the qualifications of the individuals working with us, the financial piece, a schematic of what we’re looking at and the reasons why a General Contractor / Construction Manager (gc/cm) is a better option for the community than the traditional design and build process,” Abel explained to the LCCH Board of Commissioners at their meeting on Wednesday, June 14.
“There has been a lot of interest already in the contracting community, and most are over $400 million annual volume,” Leahy stated.
Leahy expects to have a contractor on board by the first part of September. In the meantime, he has already solicited a number of local firms to do civil and structural landscape and mechanical and electrical design.
LCCHC also formed a facilities committee consisting of Abel, CFO Vickie Bodle, board members Mary Signorelli and Phyllis Gleasman, Dr. Ty Witt, CNO Carol Velasquez, Director of Facilities Ken Peters and Leahy to help gather and provide input from caregivers and staff for the layout of the new building.
“I think it is a wise decision because it will be there for the next 50 years, so in the first 10 lets get it as best as we can,” Leahy stated. My goal is to produce the facility for less than we were allocated.”
Construction will start mid year in 2018, which would put an end date around the middle of the year in 2020.