Hospital breaks ground for addition

Excitement was in the air January 27 when executives at Fallbrook Hospital held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new 3,200-square-foot addition that will provide an endoscopy center and renovated surgery suites to support contemporary technology for improved patient care at the local healthcare facility.

Expected to be an $8.5 million project, the addition will be the first since 1985 for the hospital. Since it was built, in 1959, the hospital has had only two additions — one in 1969 when the medical/surgical unit was added and in 1984-85 when the women’s center and outpatient center was constructed.

The new addition will not only enhance the services provided by the hospital, run by Community Health Systems, but will include a seismic retrofit to assure facility compliance with 2008 California seismic codes (SB1953), which ensure the building is capable of withstanding an earthquake of 6.0 magnitude.

“This is a great day for me,” said Larry Payton, hospital CEO. “We expect the construction process to take 12 to 14 months.”

Additional infrastructure improvement to the hospital’s main building will include replacing the emergency generator system to support the new construction, with the capacity to supply emergency power in the event a community-wide power outage occurs. These upgrades are said to be the beginning of improvements the administration hopes to gradually accomplish.

Hospital board member Bob Lucy said, “It takes time to get these things done, but you will see upgrades to the hospital over the next five to six years.”

The contractor selected for the job is Kithcell Contractors of Phoenix, AZ, a firm that specializes in the building of healthcare facilities. General Superintendent on-site for the project is Greg Crossett. Gerry Puchlik of Puchlik Designs is the architect who designed the new addition.