Gifford Medical Center
Launches $6 Million
In Construction

Gifford Medical Center's Theron Manning stands atop the hospital, reviewing progress Tuesday. (Herald photo / Bob Eddy)

The small fleet of earthmovers and the enormous piles of gravel being pushed around on South Main Street are signs of one of the most ambitious construction years in the history of Gifford Medical Center.

What drivers are seeing as they pass the medical center is the beginning of a $2.4 million project that will add 7200 square feet to the Medical Center while expanding the space for radiology and emergency treatment, and greatly expanding the cafeteria and kitchen.

It’s called the "in-fill project," said Gifford President Joe Woodin, because it will physically fill in gaps in the hospital façade to create the extra internal space.

In addition to the in-fill project, if all goes well, this summer will see the following improvements by Gifford:

• Completion of a major expansion in Gifford’s clinic on Route 107 between Bethel and Royalton. Made possible by a $200,000 grant secured by U. S. Rep. Bernard Sanders, the $700,000 project will add mental health services to the clinic and provide an elevator, an expanded waiting room and more privacy.

The clinic, which receives 7300 visits a year, houses three physicians and a mid-level provider, offering family practice and obstetrical services. The expansion is "pretty much finished," Woodin said, and there will be a ribbon-cutting in June. The search is on for a mental health practitioner.

• Construction of a new clinic in Sharon. A site just north of the village, adjacent to Sandy’s Restaurant, has been chosen, and Gifford hopes to break ground in May, he said.

The $400,000 project should provide 3000 square feet. This clinic would replace one that operated in South Royalton. That clinic has been purchased by pediatrician Becky Foulk, who has gone into private practice there.

"We’d like to go back into that service area," said Woodin, noting that Dr. David Pattison had attracted a considerable patient load in South Royalton.

• Doubling of the size of the Menig Nursing Home from 10 beds to 20. This big project, estimated at $2.8 million, would extend a wing southerly from the existing nursing home.

Gifford still must receive a Certificate of Need from the state in order to build the expansion. Last September, it received a Memorandum of Understanding from the Department of Human Services certifying the need for the 10 extra beds, but that doesn’t mean approval will be automatic, Woodin said. There is an average of 43 people on the waiting list for Menig.

If approval comes through in July, as hoped, construction would start in November or December.

• Gifford is looking to rent space in Randolph or Bethel for its Adult Day Care program, currently housed at Menig. The state is encouraging the move, saying that having adult programs at a nursing home can carry a stigma. About 15 adults take advantage of the program.

Much Bigger Cafeteria

The in-fill project that started last week will make a dramatic difference in the hospital’s cafeteria and kitchen, Woodin said. The 25 seats in the current cafeteria are clearly insufficient, he said—"We’re absolutely overcrowded at times. This is an employee satisfaction issue."

The expansion will create a 60-seat cafeteria and will renovate the kitchen, which is said to be the oldest un-renovated space in the hospital. According to maintenance supervisor Theron Manning, it dates from 1930, when it was installed as a root cellar for vegetables from the hospital’s gardens.

The in-fill expansion also will create new space for the radiology department, including future equipment needs in the area of "diagnostic imaging"—CT scanner and magnetic imaging.

"These days, diagnostic imaging is on the forefront of where you have to invest," Wooden said.

The emergency department will receive a fifth examining room, along with better waiting room space and a triage area.

Woodin said he hopes to have most of the work done before Oct. 1. The project was to have begun last year, he noted, but dissatisfaction with the first contractor led Gifford to pull out of the contract—"and I’ve never done that in my life," he said. The current contractor is H. P. Cummings of Woodsville, N.H.

By M. D. Drysdale