$6 million expansion for Graham: The Graham Hospital Board of Directors saw a recommendation Monday night for a $6 million expansion program for the hospital. Ken Etcheson, Graham Hospital administrator, said this morning that no action was taken toward approving the recommendations. “It was a report of a consulting firm. The board heard the report and arrived at no conclusions. The report was merely received,” Etcheson said. But he did say the report was met favorably by the board and the physicians who were present at the meeting. He said the chances looked good for the recommendations to be accepted. “I would think that if the plan is accepted, development and planning could begin within a few months and perhaps facility construction within 18 months,” he said. Etcheson said the plan, developed by a consulting firm that specializes in hospitals, is a long range plan. But he said some of the firm’s recommendations call for immediate replacement of hospital facilities. The recommendation calls for the replacement of two sections of the existing hospital. One section was built in 1907. “We can’t live with that much longer,” Etcheson said. The other section was built in 1940. Etcheson said it is sound structurally, but the consultants could not find an economically feasible way to remodel the 1940 structure to fit plans for expansion. The new construction would border Walnut Street and run the current length of the hospital from the emergency room entrance west. Etcheson said the new facilities would be built first and then the existing facilities would be torn down. When the old facilities are removed, a one-story structure would be built to join the south wing of the hospital with the newly constructed north wing, he said. Immediate recommendations for action call for replacement of the surgical suite, the laboratory and the nursing and obstetric suite. The enlargement of the X-ray facilities and the relocation of the respiratory therapy unit also are part of the immediate recommendations, Etcheson said. “By modern standards these facilities are obsolete and too small,” he said. “Both conditions pertain.” Etcheson produced a chart that was developed in 1969 showing the need for expansion in areas of the hospital. The current size of the surgery unit is 3,200 square feet. Plans call for 9,880 square feet. The laboratory is 3,100 square feet to be expanded to 11,500 square feet. The obstetrics unit is 3,000 square feet to be expanded to 6,000 square feet and the nursing unit is 1,300 square feet to be expanded to 5,600 square feet. The nursing and obstetrics units are combined at Graham Hospital. Long-range plans call for enlargements of other facilities in the hospital, but Etcheson termed the above five as most important. Etcheson said the project would be financed by the hospital through “long term debt.” The last hospital expansion and remodeling was financed through a federal grant, public solicitation of funds and through issuance of $1 million in bonds, Etcheson said. This expansion will not involve government grants or public support, he said. Etcheson stressed that the plans presented by Tribrook Group, Inc. of Oak Brook at the board meeting Monday night have not been approved. “It is a report by an individual company. It is a recommendation. It is not a conclusion of the board. It is not a plan. It is a study and a recommendation.” Etcheson said the hospital has been in the process of planning for some time. The long-range planning began in 1969, he said. A report was submitted in 1970 and that report has been updated by Tribrook Group, Inc. Etcheson said there was a free flow of ideas at the Monday night meeting with board members, hospital officials and physicians seeking to find “whether we need a new operating room or would just like to have one.”
Caption: This model shows the current structure of Graham Hospital. Buildings A, built in 1907, and B, in 1940, on West Walnut Street would be replaced by a new structure.
Caption: Future plans for Graham Hospital expansion show old buildings on Walnut Street replaced by a two-story structure, A. The new buildings would then be joined to the south wing by a one-story building, B.
