Preston Memorial Hospital, Kingwood, W.Va.
Image courtesy of denmarsh photography
Please click on the image to download a high-resolution version.
Healthcare consulting firm serves as owner’s representative and project manager for development of new Preston Memorial Hospital that opened doors May 17
MILWAUKEE and NORTHEASTERN WEST VIRGINIA, July 29, 2015 – The challenge of providing great healthcare that is also technologically advanced, sustainable and provided by quality, caring personnel is not always the easiest order to fill in any location. Trying to do that while replacing a 60-year-old hospital in a rural and geographically isolated setting makes it even more difficult.
But with the right team members, skill and expertise in place, anything is possible. Such was the case in Kingwood, W.Va., where the hard work of Preston Memorial Hospital and its project management partner, Milwaukee-based Hammes Company, has paid off for the citizens of Kingwood and areas surrounding Preston County.
The Northeastern West Virginia-based hospital chose Hammes Company, the nation’s largest healthcare real estate developer, as its owner’s representative and project manager, to help build a new, critical access hospital (CAH) to replace an aging hospital that had been around since 1955. The new and improved Preston Memorial Hospital opened its doors at 6 a.m. Sunday, May 17.
Located less than a mile from its predecessor, the 80,500 square foot replacement hospital, while slightly (15 percent) smaller in size, has been carefully planned and created to provide optimal use of space with more focus on patient care areas, vastly enhanced services and features that will serve this rural community well into the future. These enhancements include 25 private rooms with a family zone to accommodate patients’ families and promote healing; an emergency department that is 65 percent larger; surgical suites with the latest technology (such as Olympus Integrated Operating Room Systems); an integrated medical office wing and private consultation rooms for patients and their families to meet with physicians and staff. In addition, as one of the largest employers in the county, the new facility provides a continued positive economic impact to the region.
“Working through this replacement process has enabled us to fully realize the plans we only dreamed about in 2007,” says Melissa Lockwood, President and CEO of Preston Memorial Hospital.
“We knew what we wanted – what our vision was – but we needed the right partner to help us to achieve it. We needed the best possible owner’s representative and project manager to represent our interests and to manage the complexity of this project. Hammes Company proved to be the perfect choice. Its team’s diligence and the creative solutions that they brought to the table helped to ensure that residents of Preston County and beyond will have easy, convenient and affordable access to the best care, right here at home.”
“Hammes Company has been able to deliver effective and strategic project management expertise to help Preston Memorial Hospital achieve their long-awaited vision for a great replacement facility that hit all the marks it was intended to and more,” said Michael Killian, Project Executive with Hammes Company. “To help bring this outstanding facility to a rural community where it makes a difference in the lives of deserving people of Preston County is why we do what we do.”
Preston Memorial Hospital marks the fourth CAH hospital project where Hammes Company has served as owner’s representative or project manager in the Northeastern West Virginia/Northern Virginia region (known as the Northern Shenandoah Valley) in the past five years. The other three are War Memorial Hospital, Berkeley Springs, W. Va., which opened April 2011; Hampshire Memorial Hospital, Romney, W. Va., which opened June 2011; and Page Memorial Hospital, Winchester, Va., which opened May 2014. All three are members of Virginia-based Valley Health.
“As demonstrated by these four projects, Hammes Company has become a leader in the development of critical access hospitals,” says Richard Galling, President and Chief Operating Officer, Hammes Company. “Thanks to Mike and the rest of our experienced team, we are able to deliver effective and strategic project management expertise and leadership to these projects, which are so crucial to the smaller, rural communities they serve. We are particularly pleased with the results and the difference these four facilities are making to the delivery of quality care in the Northern Shenandoah Valley.”
Part of the Mon Health System since 2014, Preston Memorial Hospital carries the CAH designation, which makes it eligible for special payments under Medicare. To qualify for this federal designation, a hospital must be located in a rural area, have no more than 25 inpatient beds, provide 24-hour emergency services, have an average length-of-stay for its patients of 96 hours or less, be located more than 35 miles (or more than 15 miles in areas with mountainous terrain) from the nearest hospital – or be designated as a “necessary provider” by its state.
In addition to Hammes Company, the project team included architect Johnson Johnson Crabtree Architects (JJCA), Nashville, Tenn., and general contractor Turner of Pittsburgh.
About Preston Memorial Hospital
Preston Memorial Hospital (PMH) is a state licensed, 25-bed critical access, acute care facility, located in Kingwood, W.Va. The hospital is a leader in rural healthcare delivery. Preston Memorial incorporates state-of the-art procedures and equipment to care for its patients. PMH opened its doors on July 16, 1955, and was formerly dedicated on Sept. 29, 1955, during the annual Buckwheat Festival. Preston Memorial Hospital was dedicated to the memory of the men and women of Preston County who served in the armed forces and to those who paid the supreme sacrifice. The new Preston Memorial Hospital was dedicated on April 30, 2015 and opened its doors on May 17, 2015.
About Hammes Company
Hammes Company is comprised of a team of accomplished professionals with deep industry and functional expertise. The company assists a full spectrum of healthcare clients by advising, implementing and managing key strategies and solutions that build high-performing organizations. Hammes Company is recognized by leading healthcare providers and industry insiders as one of the most trusted providers of consulting services in the United States. The company currently serves health systems, hospitals, physician groups and payers. Hammes Company is headquartered in Milwaukee and provides services through a network of regional offices strategically located across the country in Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Houston; Los Angeles; Newport News, R.I.; New York; Richmond, Va.; Seattle; and Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.hammesco.com.
The full content of this article is only available to paid subscribers. If you are an active subscriber, please log in. To subscribe, please click here: SUBSCRIBE
