Architectural drawings for both a new hospital and a renovation will be ready by mid-July, Allen County commissioners learned Tuesday.
With the drawings will come a recommendation by Hospital Facilities Group, the Wichita consulting firm hired to advise commissioners on what to do with the aging Allen County Hospital.
ACH staff and administration will be apprised of the consulting group’s various scenarios, said Steve Lewallen, HFG medical planner and principle in charge.
“We don’t want to get to the end with a pretty picture that doesn’t work,” he said.
He cautioned there was much yet to do, both in tying together collected information and actual design work.
“We have completed the on-site physical building assessment review with the entire team, architects, engineers and construction manager,” Lewallen said, noting HFG had the opportunity to see and study ACH firsthand.
A study done in 2008 also has been reviewed. Systems, structures and code and compliance issues have been examined.
Two days of focus group sessions last week were arranged by the Hospital Facilities Commission, a group of citizens appointed by county commissioners to review ACH and collect information on how to improve the hospital. HFC members have toured several area hospitals and met several times to discuss the hospital’s future. They plan to hold public meetings in June in Iola, Moran and Humboldt to collect citizens’ opinions.
HFC also will make a recommendation to county commissioners, who ultimately will decide whether to remodel or build a new hospital.
“The bottom line is putting together a proposal of where the hospital will be, what it will look like and at a cost everyone wants,” Lewallen said. “But, we have to have all the options and financial analyses in place, including marketability,” before that happens.
With the timeline now in place, a referendum on a financing plan — a sales tax has been mentioned and a property tax might be considered — likely won’t occur until the Nov. 2 general election. The Aug. 3 primary had been considered, but a decision in July would not give sufficient time to put the issue on that ballot.
LEWALLEN said a new hospital probably would be on the east side of Iola, near The Family Physicians, 1408 East St., in a design option.
“We like that site,” he said, “but for now it’s being used just for comparison. We’d be happy to look at others.”
If building new, any site would require utilities — particularly water and sewer — that are either in place or that could be extended economically.
“We haven’t dismissed remodeling by any means,” Lewallen added. “We have a plan for that and it’s working pretty well.” However, he said, “you sometimes have to pay to get remodeling near perfect for it to compare well to new construction. There is a place where the cost becomes prohibitive.”
How to attract potential patients within ACH’s service area and beyond will also be part of HFG’s recommendations.
“We have a good idea of how to attract some (patients that) you’re losing to (other) area hospitals now,” Lewallen said.
