[Hypothalamus]

Hospital beams at progress
Author: Robert Miller, Published: 9:27 am, Friday, January 25, 2013

To mark Thursday's annual meeting, people watched the 30-foot-long steel beam come to rest in the new building.
When completed in the spring of 2014, the tower will add 310,000 square feet of space to Danbury Hospital, making it the largest expansion in the hospital's history.

The hospital will gain a new lobby, a new greatly expanded emergency department, a new critical care unit and three new medical/surgical floors for inpatient care.

Morris Gross, the hospital's vice president for facilities management, said four more floors will be added to the tower, and a heliport built on top, before the steel work is finished this spring.

"We're at the eighth floor," Gross said. "We have two more floors for patients' care. The 11th and 12 floors will be for mechanical units. And the heliport will be on top."

The heliport will allow the hospital to transport emergency patients much more quickly and efficiently. "The heliport is in the parking lot now," Gross said.

John Abbott, project executive for Gilbane Construction Co., the company building the new tower, said the building will get its roof and windows this spring.

"We have a ton of rooms to build and wires to pull," Abbott said. "We need a roof over our heads to keep us dry."

Photos:

A ceremonial steel girder is put into place on the new addition to Danbury Hospital on Thurday, Jan. 24, 2013. Photo: Jason Rearick

Steel workers monitor the ascent of a ceremonial girder that will go into the new Danbury Hospital addition on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Photo: Jason Rearick

A ceremonial steel girder is put into place on the new addition to Danbury Hospital on Thurday, Jan. 24, 2013. Photo: Jason Rearick

NOTE: The flag and tree on the steel beam represents the partnership with Norwalk Hospital and the success of Danbury Hospital in 2012. The Building is not topped-out and there are still 4 more floors to be constructed. We are on floor 8 out of 12.