The final steel beam to form the frame that will support the Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital’s Women’s Center was put in place in recent weeks. Construction workers and members of the Obstretics & Gynecology department at the hopsital signed names to the final piece before it was put in place.
The completion of the steel frame marks a major construction milestone in the project that broke ground in July.
The $15 million construction project is funded by Measure L, a property bond approved by voters in 2005. The bond raised $31.5 million, with some already used to expand the emergency room at the hospital.
The Women’s Center will offer birthing suites and labor and delivery rooms for pregnant women, but will also serve women of all ages such as older women in need of a mammogram or bone density testing. The total cost for the equipment is $500,000.
While construction is expected to be complete in December, with the project manager estimating that the construction was about 25 percent complete in early February, the Women’s Center still needs donations of equipment before it opens.
Many of the items needed for the Women’s Center are to equip the 13 birthing suites and labor/delivery rooms. The cost to equip each room is $12,000 for such items as birthing beds, bassinets, fetal monitors, delivery tables and rocking chairs. The foundation is also raising $20,000 for a newborn nursery.
Other facilities for which money is being raised include nursing stations, a lobby, an operating suite, physician sleep rooms and a nurses’ lounge.
The most expensive items include digital diagnostic imaging equipment to provide ultrasounds, digital mammography and bone density testing. The cost for the Digital Diagnostic Imaging Center is $250,000.
The new center will also include the McCullough Resource Center Fund that will outfit a library that will have books, magazines, brochures, CDs, videos and computers with Internet access so that residents can access the latest information on women’s health issues. Donations can be made to the fund, named in honor of Mary and Gerald McCullough.
Those who are interested in donating to the Women’s Center for equipment can call the hospital foundation at 636-2653 or visit www.hazelhawkins.com
