CSEPP work begins to protect Hermiston hospital

This story was published Tue, Oct 31, 2000

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Rick Baltzor carefully guided the steel claw of his backhoe over the top of a perfectly trimmed evergreen shrub and plucked it out of a neat section of manicured lawn behind Good Shepherd Health Care System's hospital on Monday.

Large strips of the lawn already had been rolled to the hospital's back parking lot, leaving behind bare soil as a ground-breaking ceremony began for the largest pressurization project being completed in Umatilla and Morrow counties.

Pressurizing the building is intended to keep hospital patients and staff safe in the event of a chemical weapons release at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

More than $1.8 million is being spent on the project by the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, said Cheryl Humphrey of CSEPP.

Humphrey said once the project is complete the windows and doors of the building would be sealed shut during a gas release.

Air would be pumped through a special filter that screens out toxic chemicals. In addition, the air pressure within the hospital would be increased to keep outside contaminated air from entering the building, Humphrey said.

The hospital is the last and the largest of the 16 key buildings in Umatilla and Morrow counties selected for the pressurization projects.

Buildings already outfitted with the special equipment include A.C. Houghton Elementary School and Columbia Middle School in Irrigon, Armand Larive Middle School, Good Samaritan Center, Hermiston High School, Highland Hills Elementary, Rocky Heights Elementary, Sandstone Middle School, Sunset Elementary and West Park Elementary in Hermiston. In Umatilla, Clara Brownell Middle School, McNary Heights Elementary and Umatilla High School also have had equipment installed.

Pressurization work at the Hermiston Safety Center and the new Hermiston Elementary School is being completed now, Humphrey said.

There's another distinction to the hospital project, though. While only certain areas of the schools were pressurized to give students a safe area in the event of an emergency, the entire hospital, with the exception of the kitchen and the laundry, is being made safe.

That's because many patients can't be moved, and in the case of a chemical emergency the hospital must continue operating.

"This has taken longer than the average construction and design," said project engineer Gil Hibbs, of SCM Engineering in Kennewick. "We had to take care not to interfere with normal hospital operations."

Good Shepherd also is taking advantage of having the architects and builders on site, said President Dennis Burke.

Burke said the hospital will spend $862,000 to add extra conference rooms, enlarge its biomedical department and move its laundry facility. Doing both projects together is saving about $800,000, he said.

To date, CSEPP has spent $5.58 million on the pressurization projects. The hospital project is expected to be completed by August.

 

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