Cambridge Memorial behind schedule, but ‘in the home stretch’
CAMBRIDGE — Patients are now expected to move into Cambridge Memorial Hospital’s new wing in January — more than a year later than initially planned.
While hospital president Patrick Gaskin said he’s disappointed with the delay, the quality of the new building is “top notch.”
“We’re really pleased with the quality of work,” Gaskin said.
When the long-awaited expansion on Coronation Boulevard began in fall 2014, the goal was to get patients into the new wing in November 2016.
Now, “we expect we’re going to get the keys to the building in mid-November,” Gaskin said.
After the hospital takes over the wing, 60 days are needed to be ready to care for patients in the new space — pushing occupancy to mid-January.
“When it opens, it has to be opened right,” Gaskin said.
That time is needed for staff training and orientation, installing and testing equipment, and sterilizing the space properly for patient care.
“They give it to us clean … but that’s not good enough for our patients,” Gaskin said.
With 250,000 square feet in the new wing, “that in itself is a massive process.”
Gaskin feels that any extra costs due to the construction delays should be absorbed by the contractor, with the contract a fixed fee paid when the hospital takes occupancy. Because the new wing is being constructed next to the existing hospital, he said it was not the cause of any delays.
“That co-ordination of work really rests on the contractor,” Gaskin said. “We’re not in their way.”
The hospital foundation still needs to raise $10 million to reach its $50-million goal for the community’s share of the $187million project. Once the new wing is opened, renovations will begin on the older portion of the hospital. That’s expected to take two years.
Programs will move into the new wing and the older part of the hospital while that work is being done.
The exterior of the new wing is mostly finished and the inside is looking more and more like a hospital, Gaskin said.
“We are in the home stretch.”