DPR Wraps up Complex Multi-Phased Operation for Sutter Tracy Community Hospital

To meet current healthcare needs of one of the fastest growing communities in Northern California, Sutter Tracy Community Hospital looked to DPR to carry out its major 21-month expansion project that touched most areas of the functioning full-service, 82-bed, acute-care facility. The $24 million project consisted of a:

• A remodeled emergency department with five additional treatment bays for a total of 13 and a much larger waiting area,
• A 4,000-sq.-ft. addition to the obstetrics wing that increased the overall square footage by 50 percent, providing the ability to offer some private labor/delivery/recovery rooms, and
• A 3,000-sq.-ft. renovation and 10,000-sq.-ft. addition of a new outpatient surgical support center that includes 12 new outpatient rooms, a dedicated two-room endoscopy (GI) suite, pediatric patient room, infusion center, centralized nurses’ station and separate admission area.

Opened at the end of last year, the center also offers greater scheduling flexibility and can accommodate twice the number of patients, allowing Sutter Tracy to better serve the 30 percent increase in demand of outpatient surgeries and GI procedures that the hospital has experienced over the past three years. “We’re in a dynamic growth mode,” said Fred Ford, assistant administrator for Sutter Tracy Community Hospital. “This project has helped us meet the immediate needs of the community while keeping our eye on the future to further improve services for patients.”

Founded in 1948 by a group of community residents and business members, the original hospital was remodeled in the ‘60s and the last section added in the late ‘80s, creating a mix of connected buildings that were built and renovated at different times under varying seismic requirements. To bring the entire hospital up to code under the deadline mandated by California Senate Bill 1953 (SB 1953), DPR seismically separated the building into both Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD)-compliant and non-OSHPD areas.

According to Pete Novaresi of DPR, the average person will not see a difference between the areas, but the buildings are designed to move differently during a seismic event with the OSHPD-compliant sections able to assume higher loads.

In addition to the seismic upgrade, DPR installed a new fire alarm system with more than 800 detectors, each of which had to be individually tested while the hospital maintained operations, as well as coordinated the relocation of the PBX phone exchange and main hub, manned 24 hours a day. “Building within an existing functioning facility is always a challenge, especially hospitals where every precaution is taken to minimize disruption to the patients and their care,” said Novaresi, who cited the example of crews cutting and removing concrete on one side of a wall while babies slept in the nursery on the other.

“It was a very complex project that required good communication and customer service skills by the entire project team,” said Ford. “DPR began working with the nursing managers, hospital staff and management to game plan safety processes and procedures and prioritized the most important issues as a team even before project start. This helped establish a higher level of trust and rapport over the course of the expansion. DPR rates among the best of the general contractors I have worked with.”