Construction on the long-awaited Oktibbeha County Hospital renovation project could begin as soon as next month.
The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors on Monday accepted a bid from contractor Brasfield and Gorrie LLC, of Birmingham, Ala., to complete the project at a cost of $23,291,000. The county will meet soon with Brasfield and Gorrie representatives, and architects from Dean and Dean Associates, of Jackson, to finalize plans for the renovation and construction, board President Marvell Howard said.
“At this point, we”ve got to get the architect and the contractor together and sit down and finalize some plans,” Howard said. “We”ll be ready to proceed from there.”
Howard said he hopes construction at the hospital will begin “within the next month or month and a half.”
As part of the renovations, new patient rooms will be constructed and old rooms will be renovated. Additional patient rooms will be located in a new tower the hospital plans to have built.
Among other improvements, the hospital will renovate its birthing suites and, when complete, the facility will feature a state-of-the-art Caesarian section suite and recovery area. Patients also will encounter a new newborn nursery and viewing area, enlarged nurse stations and patient triage and observation rooms.
Plans also include a new drop-off and pickup area for patients and families, new elevators and restrooms, comfortable waiting spaces and new parking decks to make up for spaces lost due to construction.
By the time the renovation project is complete, patients and visitors also may see signs featuring the hospital”s new name. Supervisors on Monday unanimously approved a request by hospital officials to change the name from Oktibbeha County Hospital to OCH Regional Medical Center.
According to statistics provided to the board by the hospital, 37 percent of patients come from outside of Oktibbeha County. The name change is designed to reflect the hospital”s regional patient base.
Other business
Supervisors Monday also voted to re-advertise for bids on the new Oktibbeha County School District central office building. The board initially opened bids, which ranged from $2.18 million to $2.55 million, for the project on Feb. 1, but took them under advisement. The county only has approximately $1.6 million for the project, County Administrator Don Posey said
However, changes made by architects Pryor and Morrow, of Columbus, could drop more than $400,000 off the price tag, Posey said. A retaining wall between the edge of the school building property and the Oktibbeha County Jail will be “scaled down,” Posey said, and construction of nine parking spaces will be eliminated, which will make the project cost nearly $500,000 less than originally estimated.
The school district moved out of the former education building, located at the same location beside Mugshots on Dr. D.L. Conner Drive, after it was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The county received $1.6 million from the Mississippi Development Authority to help pay for the new central office building. County school officials currently use the Hudson”s Dirt Cheap building on Louisville Street as their central office.
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