{"id":1316674,"date":"2019-11-13T15:07:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T22:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=990803"},"modified":"2019-11-13T15:07:49","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T22:07:49","slug":"grand-river-health-is-expanding-for-the-future-and-keeping-care-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/grand-river-health-is-expanding-for-the-future-and-keeping-care-local\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand River Health is expanding for the future and keeping care local"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Connie Wilmot, Construction Management Director for Grand River Health and Jim Coombs, CEO of Grand River Health tour the site of the planned expansion on the southside of the hospital in Rifle last week. (Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram)<\/strong>
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

With the red iron growing into the skyline above Graham Mesa many Rifle residents have noticed the new Grand River Health care center project near East Fifth Street and Ute Avenue.<\/p>\n

The footprint of another GRH project, which began a few months later, is taking shape behind Grand River Health on south Rifle.<\/p>\n

With the growth of the community in mind and the need to expand services, Grand River Health is undergoing the largest project since opening in the spring of 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently at capacity here at the hospital, and having to divert people because we didn\u2019t have enough beds,\u2019 Grand River Health CEO Jim Coombs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we are expanding the bay capacity from 12 to 25 beds, and undergoing an expansion on services as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grand River worked with western Garfield County residents on the community-driven project, for which services they would like the hospital to offer in the future.<\/p>\n

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Excavation of the site for the Grand River Health expansion is near completion. General Contractor FCI will soon start work on the foundation for the three-story, more than 100,000-sqaure-foot additiong to the hospital. (Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram)<\/strong>
GRExpansion-rct-111419-3<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In November 2017 Grand River Hospital District voters passed an $89.4 million bond issue to cover a three-story approximately 100,000-square-foot hospital expansion and new 110,000-square-foot care center which will replace the existing E. Dene Moore Care Center.<\/p>\n

The new hospital expansion, which is located on the south side of the existing 162,217-square-foot campus, is the largest single expansion in the facility\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ground has been cleared, most of the excavation is done. All the utilities have been moved and placed.\u201d Coombs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to relocate our backup supply of propane, the oxygen tanks that supply the hospital for patients rooms, that also had to be moved. They are just about ready to start digging the holes for the piling that the foundation will go into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combs said it is a huge project for the hospital.<\/p>\n

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A rendering of the expansion of Grand River Health.<\/strong>
GRExpansion-rct-111419-4<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt will give us all private rooms, and over the coming years there is going to be a domino-effect for areas to get backfilled and remodeled. There will be a host of smaller projects over the next number of years as capital comes available,\u201d Coombs said.<\/p>\n

The expansion will include an intensive care unit, cardiac rehab center and infusion center for cancer services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t have a full-blown cancer program, but we will have that ability for providing weekly chemotherapy so you don\u2019t have to drive a long ways. People can stay close to home and get that, especially afterwards when your not feeling well,\u201d Coombs said. \u201cWe will have an ICU and be able to keep higher acuity of patients here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Grand River Health is also planning for the future, with the third floor being shelled space to complete later.<\/p>\n

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Construction crews are working on excavating the sight forthe new three-story expansion to Grand RIver Health in south Rifle. (Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram)<\/strong>
GRExpansion-rct-111419-2<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt will create the capacity of this hospital for the next 20 to 30 years. The expansion has a little bit of shell space for additional capacity to expand down the road. We would be able to add more beds beyond the 25 at some point in the future as the community grows without having to build a completely new space.\u201d Coombs said.<\/p>\n

Due to a groundwater issue the patient wing expansion project is 4-6 months behind schedule.<\/p>\n

Annick Pruett, administrative director and community relations with Grand River, said the water issue was discovered as they were excavating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of groundwater, and they were trying to find out where it came from. Turns out it was the irrigation water from our neighbors that had not been flowing properly,\u201d Pruett said. <\/p>\n

With the help of FCI, the general contractor on the project, new trenches were built for the neighboring farm and Grand River Health offered to feed their livestock during that time.<\/p>\n

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A rendering of the expansion of Grand River Health.<\/strong>
GRExpansion-rct-111419-5<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re always nervous when you ask someone to turn off their irrigation water when they are in the middle of growing hay, but they were open about it. FCI, general contractor, was great about saying they would do whatever it takes. They were able to mitigate that and plan for the future and moving forward.<\/p>\n

Pruett added over time that the expansion will create about 200 jobs in the community.<\/p>\n

The patient wing project is slated to be completed mid-summer to early fall of 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still a few variables to put an exact date on it,\u201d Coombs said.<\/p>\n

A CARE CENTER FOR THE 21ST CENTURY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opened in 1968, E. Dene Moore Care Center currently has the capacity of 50 beds in the 27,000-square-foot facility.<\/p>\n

The facility offers skilled nursing services, physical, occupational, and speech therapy.<\/p>\n

Spaulding said that 60% of the care center population comes in for care after knee and hip replacements before returning home.<\/p>\n

Currently, 40% percent are full-time residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe care center is very similar, we are at capacity, it\u2019s an old building and we were really at the point if it didn\u2019t pass we were going to have to shut it down\u201d Coombs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been using a lot of duct tape the last couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new care center will have 87 private rooms for residents and a town square feature that will have a caf\u00e9, gathering area for music, a general store, spa and salon.<\/p>\n

Offering a \u201cneighborhoods concept\u201d at 110,000-square feet, the new facility will triple the size of the existing care center.<\/p>\n

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Iron workers piece together the structural beams for the Grand RIver Health Care Center in Rifle Wednesday morning. The 110,000-square-foot structure will replace the E. Dene Moore facility and is slated to open in 2021. The Bears open their playoff run with a runaway 48-15 victory over the Englewood Pirates last Saturday at Bears Stadium<\/strong>
A4Standalone-gpi-111419<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cEach neighborhood will have 18 beds; there is an option of one shared room in each neighborhood. The rest will all be private, which will be incredible for residents,\u201d GRH Patient Experience Officer Kenda Spaulding said.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are four residents to each bathroom; in the new care center each resident will have his or her own private bathroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI marvel that originally the care center had three people to a room. It kind of shows you how much long-term care has progressed. It\u2019s not your grandmother\u2019s nursing home anymore, it\u2019s really come a long way, much more person-centered,\u201d Pruett said.<\/p>\n

New to the care center will be a fifth section dedicated to memory care, which will have 15 rooms.<\/p>\n

The residents are incredibly excited they have a viewing area. They watch everything that is happening through a big window,\u201d Spaulding said. \u201cI\u2019ve yet to hear a single complaint about noise or vibration, because they are so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grand River Health officials expect a certificate of occupancy to be obtained by Nov.-Dec. 2020, with residents able to move in January of 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we open those three neighborhoods, that would allow us to tear down the old building, which I\u2019m sure will have some mixed feelings because it has taken care of a lot people and been a part of the community for so long,\u201d Spaulding said.<\/p>\n

kmills@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connie Wilmot, Construction Management Director for Grand River Health and Jim Coombs, CEO of Grand River Health tour the site of the planned expansion on the southside of the hospital in Rifle last week. (Kyle Mills \/ Citizen Telegram) With the red iron growing into the skyline above Graham Mesa many Rifle residents have noticed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 13:28:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316674\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}