CityView Magazine

S PECI A L PROMOTION S ECTION plans to build a competing hospital also in Hoke County, dragged out the process. Both sides agreed to drop all legal ap- peals earlier this year, paving the way for FirstHealth to build a smaller, eight-bed facility closer to Raeford. In turn, Cape Fear Valley can build its own hospital fur- ther east. When complete, it will have five times as many licensed beds, a much larger emergency department, and house more services. The key word is "more." When you have more, you need to plan more – as in for everything, right down to how the lights turn on and water flushes down the toilets. "Electricity, gas lines, diesel for power gen- erators – everything, " Steinbacher said. "Anytime you deal with a hospital, you gotta have backups for backups." You need to work closely with county and municipal utility providers to guaran- tee proper infrastructure to the hospital. You can't just call a 1-800 number and ask for cable hookup or a sewer line con- nection. Months of cooperative planning are required. Construction Planners are also working with the state to upgrade access roads and intersections to the medical campus. This will not only help with hospital traffic, but future business traffic as well. When the hospital opens, physician offices, commercial pharmacies, restaurants and retail stores ultimately fol- low. All these businesses will draw from the same utility services originally extended to the hospital. Steinbacher said designing the actual hos- pital is a tedious, methodical process. Orig- inal planners propose how many beds the hospital will have, what kinds of services it will offer, and a general location. But it's up to everyone else to make it a reality. Up to 275 construction workers, a lead architect, general contractor and 44 sub- contractors worked on the Health Pavil- ion Hoke project at any given time. Just as many people and companies, if not more, are expected to work on the hospital. "The plans don't have to be that detailed when you originally file your CON," Stein- bacher said. "But once you do get it, you have to get everything nailed down before you start the construction process, because you only get one shot." Schematic design is nothing more than geometry interpreted by an architect or designer. You're given a certain number of rooms, and then you have to figure where they will all fit within a set number of square feet. Institutional and safety regula- tions, strict building codes, and extra pa- tient safeguards must be heavily factored in, since it's a hospital. The good news is that Cape Fear Valley's hospital will be a "green field" facility. This means it can be designed from the ground up with the latest in technology and patient care delivery systems. Additions onto exist- ing facilities are often limited by the older architecture, which can be decades old. "New hospitals are resembling hotels, more and more now," Steinbacher said. "Gone are the long hallways and dark backrooms of yesteryear. You have to design in all this new technology, and it can be a challenge." Once the hospital is erected, the final task of readying the facility for occupancy and operation will begin. Testing systems, get- ting qualifications and certifications from the state and federal government, and ensuring every square inch of the hospi- tal meets code and is operational must be done. Once that's complete, the builders can then "hand over the keys" to the new hospital so it can open to the public. Health Pavilion Hoke and the future hos- pital represent a $100 million-investment in Hoke County that will create upwards of 350 professional jobs. But more impor- tantly, it will continue to fulfill Cape Fear Valley's promise to bring quality healthcare to its neighboring county to the west. And that's something even more monu- mental. HOSPITAL OVERVIEW Projected Opening: Summer 2014 Projected Employees ......... 350 Projected Beds ............... 41 Types of Service: • 25 Med / Surg Acute Care Beds • 16 OB/Gyn Acute Care Beds • 2 Operating Rooms • 4 Labor and Delivery Rooms • 1 C-Section Room • 9 Observation Beds • 16 ED Treatment Rooms • Diagnostic Services cape fear valley hoke healthcare CityViewNC.com | 5

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