The St. Mary's Hospital expansion is just days away from having a roof, and to celebrate this about-to-be milestone, the Project Management Team held a "Topping Off Barbecue and Site Tour" on Oct. 7.
Last Friday's event, a way for the site-managers to thank volunteers, construction workers, the Sechelt Indian Band and health care employees, included burgers, hot dogs and assorted salads for a few hundred people. Local politicians were also out in force to see the first major change to the hospital in more than 30 years.
The topping-off ceremony, a construction fixture for major projects, is generally held to acknowledge the many stakeholders including architects, engineers, funding agencies and other VIPs. In some cases, an evergreen tree is placed on top of the building to symbolize future growth and to express gratitude that no one has been harmed in the building of the structure.
Doug Spani, a member of the board of directors of the St. Mary's Hospital Foundation, said that while the roof might have been a week or so away from making the ceremony a true topping-off, the great work of everyone was still reason enough to celebrate and the water-proofing had been done.
The site tour included explanations of the features of the addition. When complete, the emergency, X-ray and CT scan rooms will be adjacent to each other, effectively reducing the time and stress of treatment. The construction is estimated to be about two months behind the target schedule right now. When it is completed, all patients will have their own rooms, a measure said to drastically reduce the incidence of infection. Each step of the way, nurses and other health care professionals are being consulted on the best location for features such as light switches and equipment locations.
The budget for the project is just under $44 million, and construction is scheduled for completion in 2012.
Editor's note: See photos from the event on our on-line galleries at www.coastreporter.net.
