Tour shows ACH’s strengths, needs

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October 1, 2010 - 12:00 AM

Joyce Heismeyer was anxious when she started giving tours this month at Allen County Hospital. Heismeyer, chief executive officer of ACH, said she thinks of the hospital “as my baby.”
“Who wants to go around pointing out how ugly their baby is?” she asked.
While the hospital building is structurally sound, its age — 60 years — and layout can cause a head-ache for employees.
Just as quickly, however, she noted that the hospital and staff — “We have a tremendous staff” — still are capable of providing quality medical care to patients.
Heismeyer spoke this week during the most recent tour of the hospital to illustrate the building’s strengths and weaknesses in preparation for the Nov.
2 general election. Allen Countians are being asked to approve a quarter-cent sales tax that would help the county qualify for financing to build and start up a new hospital.
Seven more tours are planned prior to Nov. 2: at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. Oct. 11, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 12, 1:30 p.m. Oct. 17, 5 p.m. Oct. 21 and at noon Oct. 29.
“The goal is to have different times on different days to give as many people a chance to take part in the tours,” as possible, Heismeyer said.

THE TOUR starts, oddly enough, in a stairwell connecting the hospital’s first and second floors.
There, Heismeyer points out the lack of space between the second story’s floor and bottom floor’s ceiling.
At only 18 inches, the space between floors is inadequate to handle the necessary duct work to upgrade the building’s heating and ventilation systems, which would be done if the building were to undergo a full-scale renovation.
It’s also a large reason why the cost of building a new hospital — pegged at $30 million — would still be considerably less than the $34 million necessary to spend on renovations.
“And even after the renovations, you’re still looking at an old building,” Heismeyer said.

THE HOSPITAL’S infrastructure, in particular its multi-million dollar steam boilers, are nearing the end of their life span.
Actually one boiler, at 45 years old, and two others, at 25 years, all have exceeded their original expectancy.
“Those boilers were designed to last 20 years,” Heismeyer said. “That tells me our maintenance staff has done a phenomenal job of the boilers’ upkeep.”
It also illustrates the dire need to have those systems replaced, she continued.
That cost alone exceeds $7 million.

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