Work progressing quickly on new Quincy hospital

QUINCY — If the project stays on schedule, the new Quincy Valley Medical Center should be treating patients by summer 2025.  

Project manager Joe Kunkel said there’s progress outside and inside the new building. 

“All the weather barrier is done,” Kunkel said. “Most of the windows are in – we have a couple held out because we move materials in and out through some of those (openings). Framing and drywall is happening on the first floor.” 

The exterior siding has been installed in some sections of the building and work has started on some of the stone accents. Both the main entrance and the emergency entrance will have stone-wrapped columns.  

“There’s a guy out there who literally places the stones one by one. And he’ll be working his way around the building,” Kunkel said.  

The emergency room, Sageview Clinic, physical therapy and other departments will be located on the first floor, and drywall is being installed throughout, Kunkel said. The first layers of paint are being applied in what will be Sageview Clinic. 

“The drywallers are going crazy right now – and they’re fast. The clinic is drywalled, physical therapy is drywalled, the ER is drywalled,” Kunkel said. “On the second floor they’re just starting to do some drywall, but most if it (has been) framed.” 

Some components must be installed so construction can continue around them. The range hood is one of them; it was installed last week. 

“A big milestone,” Kunkel said.  

Crews are taking photographs and video of each section as they go, Kunkel said, to document locations of components like plumbing and electricity.  

“There’s a building automation system that comes with the new building, so if there’s a leak, if you want to do any kind of remodel, they can pull up photos of exactly where they want to go (and) know what’s in that wall before they break through it,” Kunkel said  

The upgraded central computer system will monitor most components, the heating-cooling system being one example but extending beyond that. Kunkel cited the example of medications that must be stored at a specific temperature. 

“Historically you’d have a thermometer in each one of them, and then somebody checks them and writes (the results) down on a piece of paper. This is all automated, so it’s monitoring all structures at the same time. It has alarms if something goes out of compliance,” Kunkel said. 

The upgraded monitoring system will allow hospital employees to identify breakdowns more quickly – if a component goes down at the existing QVMC, it requires a search to find it. The new system will notify staff where a breakdown has occurred. It can be monitored remotely.  

Construction is projected to be complete by spring 2025; Kunkel said QVMC officials should have the certificate of occupancy from the city of Quincy by early April  

“That just means we get the keys,” he said. “Even though we get the keys we’re still two to three months out (from admitting patients).”  

In addition, the old Quincy hospital will be demolished once the new one is open and operating. The site of the existing building will become the parking lot for the new facility. 

“We took the managers through (the new facility) on Monday, just to show them a snapshot of the work in progress,” Kunkel said. “They were really excited.”