Hospital hoists last beam on $22 million expansion

The last steel beam was hoisted Thursday on a $22 million project that will add beds and private rooms to Craven Regional Medical Center.

Hospital leaders gathered for a "topping off" ceremony at the hospital, and all signed the beam.

"We are all very proud - from the CEOs to the bolt riveters - of reaching this milestone," said hospital spokeswoman Megan McGarvey. "This expansion furthers our mission to provide high-quality medical care to Craven County and the region."

Part new construction and part remodeling, the project will add two floors and 37 beds to the New Bern hospital. In several areas of the hospital, existing rooms will be modified so that shared rooms become entirely private. Altogether, the project will affect 61 rooms. The expansion will also bring the hospital up to its licensed capacity of 350 bids.

As part of the renovation, many shared patient rooms will become private rooms with individual bathrooms. The exceptions to that plan are in some psychiatric-care and rehabilitation areas.

"Research has shown that it is often motivational for a rehab or mental-health patient to have someone sharing the room with them," McGarvey said.

The project will make the remodeled third floor of the hospital a 20-bed cardiovascular-care unit with private rooms.

The new fourth floor will have a 20-bed medical-surgical unit. That unit is for general patient admissions and recovery after surgery.

The hospital's orthopedic unit will move from the second floor to the fifth floor and will gain five rooms in the move. It will have 21 private rooms.

T.A. Loving Company of Goldsboro was awarded the $$22 million building contract.

Contractors have used 350 tons of steel and 20,000 bolts on the project.

The expansion is to be finished by the fall of next year. It will be paid for out of the hospital's reserve funds.

"For us to be able to have nearly all private rooms is a big milestone," said Lonnie Pridgen, chairman of the Craven Regional Medical Authority. "And certainly, we're glad that the additional beds will give us the ability to serve more patients."