New linear accelerator a heavy project

Friday, September 6, 2013
Some of the 457 3,500-pound concrete blocks for the Radiation Oncology Center vault are waiting to be fitted together near the building site. Other blocks poured and ready for construction are being stored off site. (Community Hospital/Courtesy photo)

MCCOOK, Nebraska -- Members of the Community Hospital Board of Directors learned some heavyweight facts about construction of the new Radiation Oncology Project which began this summer and will continue into the early part of 2014.

At the Aug. 21 meeting of the board, Jim Ulrich, Community Hospital President and CEO said the lead door to the linear accelerator vault weighs 15,000 pounds. Eighty percent of the lead used for the project comes from recycled batteries. The vault will be constructed of 457 concrete blocks; each of the large ones weighing more than 3,500 pounds. Block density is about 140 pounds per cubic foot. Concrete blocks for the project are poured in McCook by a local contractor. They are made by pouring concrete into a mold which was shipped to McCook especially for the project.

Total weight of the vault is 1.5 million pounds with walls up to eight foot thick in places. Due to the extreme weight, the blocks will rest on a rebar/concrete pad which is two-feet thick. Footings under the pad are one-and-a-half foot thick. Due to the weight of the structure, Ulrich stressed the importance of excavating and compacting the dirt under the project, which workers are completing now. Vault construction will begin later in September. The linear accelerator is scheduled to arrive Dec. 14 with the project completed in February. He said the first scan is anticipated some time in March.

Action to Be Taken

As the governing body of Community Hospital, the board adopted the HIPAA compliance policy which includes the 2013 Federal changes to the HIPAA law. Some of the changes included new revisions to the marketing and fundraising rules, a new restriction on not selling Protected Health Information, a new standard for determining when there has been a breach under the breach notification rule and revisions to define business associates.

The board also approved some new and revised human resource policies including the Scope of Services Policy, Meal and Rest Periods Policy, Pre-Employment/Post-Job Offer Physical, Medical and Drug Screens Policy, Background and Reference Checks Policy and the Patient Safety Plan.

Review of Activities

The board heard the following reports:

Quality, Patient Safety, and Risk Management, Joleen Bradley, Patient Safety and Performance Director

Community Hospital Health Foundation, Terri Shipshock, Executive Director

Balance Scorecard, Steve Shaner, Strategic Planner and Seed Champions

Building Project Update

Ulrich also updated the board of directors on the Facility Master Plan of the Phase 2B project. He said the Phase 2B is 99.9 percent complete. There will be some replacing of the trees and plants in the healing garden and on the west side of the patient wing and finalizing audio visual technology in the Prairie View Conference Rooms.

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