by Marissa Lorenz
Just two and a half months into a $20 million expansion project, visitors to the Middle Park Health
(MPH) Granby and Kremmling campuses can see the evidence of progress with their own eyes.
After a late start due to COVID-19 delays, what was originally anticipated to be an 11-month project is right on schedule, according to Chip Ellis, Project Manager for Calcon Constructors, the general contractor for the expansion. Dual groundbreaking ceremonies were held in July and there has been
non-stop activity ever since.
Groundwork is mostly complete in Kremmling, and steel girding for the new 14,000 square-foot hospital facility is partially in place. The first half of the structure’s interior slab was poured this week and the rest of the girding will be in place over the next three weeks, so expect to see the return of a large crane in the coming days. Ellis indicates that the parking lot will be paved and open and roofing will be in place before December and before most winter activity will move inside.
The new hospital will house two emergency room exam rooms, two trauma bays, three in-patient rooms, CT and Xray suites, and a primary care clinic with six exam rooms and a treatment room. The new ambulance entrance will be off the alley, and all public access will be through a main door on the parking lot side, with a snow-melted entrance and admission to all clinic, lab, radiology, and emergency room services.
The existing hospital structure will be utilized for swing patients, such as those needing rehabilitative or extended care. And the current clinic building will provide flexible space, likely to expand office
space for support services.
Simultaneous work is taking place in Granby and a new parking lot opened this week, adding 65 new parking spaces, reports Tiffany Freitag, MPH Director of Community Relations. Concrete is in place on the east side of the existing facility, where a 2,000 square-foot clinic addition will provide space for seven exam rooms, a treatment room, a care team station, and associated support spaces.
Work on the west side of the building will make room for a 6,300 square-foot inpatient care unit, adding seven inpatient rooms for the care of medical and surgical patients. Framing has begun in Granby and roofing is expected to begin in the next couple of weeks, says Ellis.
He explains that the same subcontractors are working at both locations and that there is occasional waiting for movement between the two. “There is some priority in Granby, but things keep moving in the meantime.”
Ellis indicates that, in spite of an early snow about a month ago, the weather has been good for building and that activity is moving along on schedule. “Rain slows us down more than snow,” he notes. “There have been no unknowns in Kremmling, nothing underground that caused delays, and we are on-budget so far.”
Derek Ortner, Chief Operating Officer at MPH, commends Calcon for the continual gain toward the project goals. “They are well-versed in building in our climate and well-versed in healthcare,” he says of the Steamboat Springs-based builders.
“Choosing a local contractor was a very important decision point for the Board and the hospital itself,” he continues. “We had several potential contractors, but Calcon has a great track record and we’re very pleased with the decision.”
Ortner notes that the purchase of an upsized generator to better support the added square footage and new beds of the Granby facility has been the only unplanned expense. The cost of the new generator is being priced, but he assures that unknown expenses were built into the original contingency. The general project is being funded through a nearly $20 million USDA loan that the hospital was able to secure last spring.
Both sites should meet their planned completion dates, with the Granby additions being finished in early spring 2021 and Kremmling’s new hospital opening for business in late spring or early summer 2021.
 Granby and Kremmling campuses can see the evidence of progress with their own eyes.){kind=link}