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Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 51F. Winds light and variable..
Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 51F. Winds light and variable.
About 60,000 yards of soil has been moved from the future location of Lewis County Health System’s surgical pavilion being built on the north side of the existing hospital on North State Street in Lowville. The dirt has been piled into what the health system’s chief executive is calling “Mt. Lewis County” as seen in the background Sept. 6 from the roof of the hospital. Photos by Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
One side of the rooms along the medical-surgical inpatient hallway at Lewis County Health System’s general hospital on North State Street in Lowville has been gutted to the studs and will be completely renovated into single rooms. County officials were shown the progress at the $32 million construction and renovation sites on Sept. 6. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
The retaining walls being built by C&S Companies, Syracuse, at the site of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion will be completed in multiple sections and stand 16 feet at their tallest point. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
C&S Companies crew members work on the first floor of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion at the hospital on the main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. According to the company’s construction manager Michael Nuffer on Tuesday, this is one-third of the pavilion’s total area. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer, in the back of the line, watches as county officials are given an update Sept. 6 on the renovations to inpatient rooms that will transform them from doubles to singles on the medical-surgical floor. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
C&S Companies crew members work on the first floor of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion at the hospital on the main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. According to the company’s construction manager Michael Nuffer on Sept. 6, this is one-third of the pavilion’s total area. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
The retaining walls being built by C&S Companies at the site of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion will be completed in multiple sections and stand 16 feet at its tallest point. The road shown leads to Number Three Road on the west side of the hospital. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
About 60,000 yards of soil has been moved from the future location of Lewis County Health System’s surgical pavilion being built on the north side of the existing hospital on North State Street in Lowville. The dirt has been piled into what the health system’s chief executive is calling “Mt. Lewis County” as seen in the background Sept. 6 from the roof of the hospital. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
C&S Companies crew members work on the first floor of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion at the hospital on the main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. According to the company’s construction manager Michael Nuffer on Sept. 6, this is one-third of the pavilion’s total area. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
C&S Companies crew members work on the first floor of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion at the hospital on the main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. According to the company’s construction manager Michael Nuffer on Sept. 6, this is one-third of the pavilion’s total area. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
Half of the formerly double-wide hallway through the medical-surgical inpatient hallway at Lewis County Health System’s Lowville hospital has been sealed off with a wall, left, with negative pressure air flow to prevent dust or germs from bothering patients staying in rooms on the right side of the hallway during renovations. The rooms will be converted from doubles to private rooms. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer, left, and C&S Companies construction manager Michael Nuffer, far right, explain the surgical pavilion construction site to county officials Sept. 6 at the hospital’s main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville.
Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer, left, and C&S Companies construction manager Michael Nuffer, far right, explain the surgical pavilion construction site to county officials Sept. 6 at the hospital’s main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer, center, tells county officials on Sept. 6 about the progress made on the renovations to the existing hospital building, part of the $32 million construction project that will also build a new surgical center connected to the hospital. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
About 60,000 yards of soil has been moved from the future location of Lewis County Health System’s surgical pavilion being built on the north side of the existing hospital on North State Street in Lowville. The dirt has been piled into what the health system’s chief executive is calling “Mt. Lewis County” as seen in the background Sept. 6 from the roof of the hospital. Photos by Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
One side of the rooms along the medical-surgical inpatient hallway at Lewis County Health System’s general hospital on North State Street in Lowville has been gutted to the studs and will be completely renovated into single rooms. County officials were shown the progress at the $32 million construction and renovation sites on Sept. 6. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
The retaining walls being built by C&S Companies, Syracuse, at the site of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion will be completed in multiple sections and stand 16 feet at their tallest point. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
C&S Companies crew members work on the first floor of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion at the hospital on the main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. According to the company’s construction manager Michael Nuffer on Tuesday, this is one-third of the pavilion’s total area. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer, in the back of the line, watches as county officials are given an update Sept. 6 on the renovations to inpatient rooms that will transform them from doubles to singles on the medical-surgical floor. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
C&S Companies crew members work on the first floor of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion at the hospital on the main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. According to the company’s construction manager Michael Nuffer on Sept. 6, this is one-third of the pavilion’s total area. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
The retaining walls being built by C&S Companies at the site of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion will be completed in multiple sections and stand 16 feet at its tallest point. The road shown leads to Number Three Road on the west side of the hospital. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
About 60,000 yards of soil has been moved from the future location of Lewis County Health System’s surgical pavilion being built on the north side of the existing hospital on North State Street in Lowville. The dirt has been piled into what the health system’s chief executive is calling “Mt. Lewis County” as seen in the background Sept. 6 from the roof of the hospital. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
C&S Companies crew members work on the first floor of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion at the hospital on the main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. According to the company’s construction manager Michael Nuffer on Sept. 6, this is one-third of the pavilion’s total area. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
C&S Companies crew members work on the first floor of Lewis County Health System’s new surgical pavilion at the hospital on the main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. According to the company’s construction manager Michael Nuffer on Sept. 6, this is one-third of the pavilion’s total area. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
Half of the formerly double-wide hallway through the medical-surgical inpatient hallway at Lewis County Health System’s Lowville hospital has been sealed off with a wall, left, with negative pressure air flow to prevent dust or germs from bothering patients staying in rooms on the right side of the hallway during renovations. The rooms will be converted from doubles to private rooms. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer, left, and C&S Companies construction manager Michael Nuffer, far right, explain the surgical pavilion construction site to county officials Sept. 6 at the hospital’s main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville.
Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer, left, and C&S Companies construction manager Michael Nuffer, far right, explain the surgical pavilion construction site to county officials Sept. 6 at the hospital’s main campus, 7785 N. State St., Lowville. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald R. Cayer, center, tells county officials on Sept. 6 about the progress made on the renovations to the existing hospital building, part of the $32 million construction project that will also build a new surgical center connected to the hospital. Julie Abbass/Watertown Daily Times
LOWVILLE — County officials were given an inside look and a bird’s-eye view last week of the progress being made on the $32 million construction project that will feature a new surgical pavilion and a complete renovation of existing inpatient areas of Lewis County Health System’s main campus hospital.
Donning hard hats and masks, the group was led to key indoor work locations and outdoor view points from the basement to the roof by Gerald R. Cayer, CEO of the health system. Michael Nuffer, construction manager for C&S Companies, Syracuse, helped narrate the tour.
The largest and in many ways most challenging aspects of construction so far, according to Mr. Cayer, have been moving earth and building retaining walls to keep soil out of the spaces empty of soil.
As the group looked out Sept. 6 over the construction site that sprawls from the north side of the hospital on North State Street to the massive soil hill Mr. Cayer referred to as “Mt. Lewis County” and the curvy road that leads to Number Three Road on the hospital’s western border, they were informed that about 60,000 yards of earth have been moved since construction began in April. And the digging still “isn’t quite there” yet, he said.
“At the very peak of Mt. Lewis County is loam that’s been moved that will be placed back here, so even though that is tall, it’s going to come down quite a bit once the loam has been spread around the backyard,” Mr. Cayer said.
The retaining wall concerned the health system’s board of managers, Mr. Cayer said, “because it was hard to visualize how tall (they) would be set against the (pavilion) project — there were fears that (they were) going to go up 60 feet — but at the highest point, it’s 16 (feet).”
Pointing to the first retaining wall completed by his crew, Mr. Nuffer said earth was also moved so that the access road out of the back of the campus is “the actual elevation of the Number Three Road.” He said there are more retention walls to be built along the project area.
The locations of future features were pointed out to the officials as the site has started to take shape — the parking lots, access roads and where the other two-thirds of the pavilion’s footprint will be.
The first floor of the structure has started taking shape, with wood supports extending from its sides like centipede legs.
The clanging of metal hitting metal and the incessant rhythmic thumps of pneumatic tools being worked through hard material provided the soundtrack for both inside and outside work, construction and medical.
The ground floor of the existing hospital building will be turned into the primary corridor leading to the new building by the C&S crew that has already gutted the area.
“First we had to come in and remove the asbestos that was in here. We removed all the outside walls and we found mold in the bottom of some walls so we replaced them,” Mr. Nuffer said, noting that new piping systems and duct work will be installed throughout the space.
Despite a number of challenges that have come up that could have slowed progress, Mr. Cayer said he believes the project “is where it’s supposed to be,” stopping short of confirming it is on schedule.
“I think the team has done a great job with some of the supply chain issues … flip-flopping which parts of the project are happening at what time. It’s happened several times, so basically, you adjust to the materials you get in,” Mr. Cayer said.
From Mr. Nuffer’s perspective, the unique set of obstacles created by “working in a building that’s operating 24/7 as opposed to a building you can shut down” have required a different approach.
In the main hallway of the medical-surgical inpatient area, Mr. Nuffer said they had to come up with a plan to harmonize having patients and construction in the same space.
“We’ve separated those two issues — the construction and the patients — by putting up a wall (down the middle of the hallway) and negative air behind it,” he said. “The patients will be on the right side of the hallway and the construction will be on the left.”
Mr. Cayer told the group that one of the most important aspects of the renovation side of the project is to create private rooms with private bathrooms and showers.
“Our rooms for the most part are doubles and they have one (toilet). That went out in the ’50s and ’60s. The way the bathrooms are being positioned in the (new) rooms are to give the utmost privacy to the patients in the bedded area … It just creates more dignity,” he said.
Some design elements have evolved because of the COVID-19 pandemic, like increasing the size of the oxygen tank that serves the facility and ensuring there are two “head boards” with electrical and oxygen hookups configured in each single room so they can be converted to double rooms if there is another surge of inpatients for any reason.
“It was very stressful a year and a half ago when one day we received a communication from the (state) Department of Health with an executive order doubling the bed capacity. In a building constructed when this was, it was hard to do that,” Mr. Cayer said.
Rationale for the project grows as work continues.
“We’ve found a lot of reasons after this got started why we should be doing this job,” Mr. Nuffer said. “In the patient rooms there was no sound attenuation — no insulation in the walls — between the corridor and the patient rooms, between the rooms, nothing. There was no fresh air in the patient rooms (except for windows). That’s not code any more.”
He added that his team is slated to add sound-muting insulation to the walls and to install fans and duct work to bring fresh air into all of the rooms mechanically.
The design for the renovations and the new pavilion sets the stage for additional improvements to the facility in the future without having to do a tremendous amount of restructuring or moving departments around.
Mr. Cayer shared ideas with the county officials that may be “the seed planted for the next project,” including the modernization and expansion of “the incredibly dated” kitchen using rooms being created in the area that will connect the new building to the old behind the kitchen, as well as potentially adding a “multi-denominational room of reflection” in the new pavilion close to the emergency department, surgery and one floor below the medical-surgical inpatient area.
“Like most health care organizations, it’s about sustained investment versus once-in-a-generation kind of adjustment in that once you finally get there, it’s so antiquated that you pay for it just in a different way,” Mr. Cayer said.
County officials who took part in the tour included legislative board chair Lawrence L. Dolhof, R-Lyons Falls; legislators Ian W. Gilbert, R-New Bremen; Joshua P. Leviker, R-Turin; and Jessica L. Moser, R-Denmark; county treasurer Eric J. Virkler; and county manager Ryan M. Piche.
“I’m impressed by the progress so far,” Mr. Dolhof said after the tour. “Especially with the dirt removal. I mean, 60,000 yards — that’s a huge process right there.”
The 26,000-square-foot surgical center and renovation of 17,000 square feet of space in the existing building are expected to be completed by the end of summer in 2024.
The health system is the only hospital in the county and its largest employer.
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