You’ll soon see heavy equipment on the GVMH campus and soon after you’ll see cranes and construction workers moving to and fro.  The illustration above shows the planned addition to the hospital.  The area of the building that isn’t hatched is new construction you’ll also see new parking being added.  Any of the parking areas that are bolded will be new parking.

With construction comes challenges.  We provide health care services 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  We’ve got to be open and accessible no matter what’s going on.  During the course of construction parking will be at a premium.  The first stage of construction requires that we add a new lot behind the facility.  Staff will be asked to park in this lot and entering the building will not be convenient but doing so is necessary so that patients can park in the front lot and access the building and services.

Another challenge that will present itself to patients and care providers during different phases of construction is access to the building. During some stage of construction the admitting entrance will be closed for safety reasons.  All patients, inpatient, outpatient and emergency will have to enter through the main entrance.  The ambulance garage will go away and be replaced with a temporary garage and that means that patients arriving by ambulance will also be entering the building through the main entrance for some period of time.

There will be challenges associated with access and patient flow during construction but fortunately they will be short-lived.  Once construction is complete access to services will be easy and efficient.  Many of the changes we are making with construction are designed to make it easier for all patients to access services.  It’s going to be important for both patients and staff to remind themselves that all of the inconveniences of construction are temporary and there will be growing pains along the way.