PORT TOWNSEND — Inpatient rooms at Jefferson Healthcare hospital are about to get a significant upgrade.
All 27 inpatient rooms, from the intensive care and acute care units to the family birthing center, will see improvements in technology and lighting during a project expected to last 18 months.
“It’s the whole floor up there,” said Kris Becker, the executive director for the Jefferson Healthcare Foundation. “It’s pretty exciting.”
The $364,000 project will be helped by a $100,000 community development grant from the First Federal Community Foundation, one of 16 gifts announced May 6 that totaled $400,000 from the foundation to agencies in Jefferson, Clallam, Kitsap and Whatcom counties.
“We’re delighted,” said Jan Simon, First Federal Community Foundation’s executive director. “In some ways, we hope this would never have to be used. But they’re doing it so smartly and so consistently.”
Simon referred to the hospital and its plans to renovate flooring, wall and window treatments as well as the technology infrastructure through the headwalls that contain valves and other outlets for medical equipment.
Aaron Vallat, the construction and planning manager for Jefferson Healthcare, led a tour Tuesday following the First Federal foundation’s check presentation.
He walked a small gathering through a stainless steel entryway called an AnteRoom, which can protect and seal off a space for construction crews to work. The rollable structure removes the need to wrap a room in plastic several times per day to keep dust and other particles from getting into an otherwise sterile hospital environment, Vallat said.
The upgrades to the building built in 1995 will add contemporary features and connectivity.
“It will help us with what devices need to be connected and what devices will need to be connected in the future,” Vallat said.
The biggest impact will be installing the headwalls, which will attach to a frame without the need to demolish the existing structure. Once the new surface is in place, electricians will be able to reconnect the supplies for oxygen and other equipment, Vallat said.
The rooms are expected to be upgraded at the rate of two per month, keeping the required 25 beds available for inpatient use as a critical-access hospital, Vallat said.
Jefferson Healthcare must have no more than 25 acute care beds to maintain its status as a rural hospital as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The grant will enable the hospital to renovate six of the rooms and includes funds to upgrade counters, sinks and cabinets. Lighting will be changed to LED, and roller shades and privacy screens will be added to the windows, Becker said.
“We want people to feel safe and secure during their stay,” said Becker, who added the hospital’s goal is to keep the same character of the building visually consistent throughout a patient’s stay.
Hospital Commissioner Marie Dressler thanked First Federal representatives on the tour for the grant.
“It makes such a difference for our community at large,” Dressler said.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
