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Another bout of construction at Greater Regional will give staff more parking spaces and in turn give more room to visiting patients.
The Greater Regional board of trustees met on Monday for their monthly meeting, beginning with a public hearing on construction in their staff parking lot.
The extension will build the staff parking lot further south closer to the hospital’s helipad. Entrances on the north and south side of the lot will also be constructed. A net 30 parking spaces will be added to the hospital’s lot.
No timeline has been set for construction yet but is expected to start as soon as possible.
Facilities Director Matt Buck introduced the project and the winning bid. TK Concrete of Pella was approved by the board for the project out of seven bids.
The total cost of the project was bid by TK Concrete at $177,427, a little more than an 11% decrease from the engineer’s estimate at $200,352.
As a part of the construction projects, additional curb and gutter improvements were outlined. Buck noted the lot’s susceptibility to sinkholes, especially during heavy rain.
These curb improvements, which would close the parking lot for staff, will only be made after the extension’s construction is completed, preventing further displacement of staff parking.
In other Greater Regional news...
Unitypoint Health Director of Rural Health Resources Teresa Newman spoke on two Iowa bills in circulation which would be “good for health care and particularly good news for rural health care.”
The first, already signed by Gov. Reynolds in April, increases the penalties of assault on certain professions including law enforcement, first responders and health care workers. These penalties would be raised from a class D penalty to a class C.
The second, which passed the House and Senate, overhauls Iowa’s loan repayment services to incentivize training health care professionals to reside in rural hospitals. The plan expects to create 115 medical residencies over the next four years.