LANSING - Fifty percent growth in patient admissions over the last seven years has prompted growth in the Ingham Regional Medical Center.

Ingham's new Chi Heart and Surgery Center, now under construction, will be a five-story, 170,000 square-foot facility, connecting with the main hospital campus at 401 W. Greenlawn.

The new construction on the east side of the hospital campus is being built over a demolished four-story structure and will place all heart and surgical services under one roof. Two new floors of patient rooms will also be added.

Construction is being managed by the Hospital Building and Equipment Co. (HBE). The new heart and surgery center will cost $50 million. About 100 Hardhats were on the job last month.

"I can't say enough about the workforce out here," said HBE Senior Supt. Mark Erickson, a Wisconsin native. "When I found out I was coming on the job, I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard it was an all-union job. It's so much better when you don't have to deal with incompetent people."

Erickson said tradespeople will be "nice and warm" this winter with the addition of windows this fall. He said the main challenge on the project was the "ugly" soil at the site - including buried cans and an old fuel tank. Foundation work included the sinking of 117 caissons about 65 feet deep.

Construction is expected to be complete late next year.

"This center," said Robert Heintz, vice president of Development for Ingham Regional Medical Center, "has long been needed to consolidate heart and surgical services for more efficient patient surgeries and outpatient services, and enhanced quality of care."

The new center's features will include:

• Total replacement of the surgery department, including 10 operating rooms, and five cardiac catheterization rooms;
• A dedicated outpatient floor with new imaging and non-invasive technology;
• An increase in private rooms from 95-145.

The facility will be named for Dr. and Mrs. Seong Chi. Dr. Chi holds a longstanding reputation as a pioneer in open heart surgery, performing the first such surgery at Ingham in 1966.

A MEDICAL GAS pipe is installed at Ingham Regional Medical Center by Tony Dingley of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 333 and Keebler Plumbing.

RUNNING A BRANCH CIRCUIT ARE (l-r) Justin Larrison and Jaime Lugo of IBEW Local 665 and Delta Electric.