BARTONSVILLE – A new hospital in the Poconos is well on its way to completion.
It’s been a busy nine months of construction. St. Luke’s Hospital broke ground on its $85 million project in Bartonsville last April.
Already the building of Route 611 is taking shape.
"We have about 16 trade contractors on site right now, with about 100 personnel, people, employees on site,” said project superintendent Jeff Burnside.
Inside, crews installed drywall where offices will be. Electricians are wiring the building while others work on heating ducts.
The project is running ahead of schedule on many fronts.
"Mother Nature has cooperated beautifully. All of the site work is nearly complete. As you can see, the hospital is looking like a hospital ,” said Senior Vice President of St. Luke’s University Health Network Bob Martin.
"The paving is in. The parking lot lights are in, so in the spring all we have to do is landscape, finish the paving and put sidewalks in,” said Burnside.
To keep the work moving in the winter, temporary heaters have been placed both inside and outside of the building.
Brick layers have heaters underneath them, keeping facade work on track.
The four operating rooms are coming together to,o with natural light coming through the windows.
Down the hall is the framework for 33 emergency exam rooms.
“We'll have a full-service emergency room. It can handle up to 45,000 visits a year. That's a pretty busy emergency room,” said Martin.
Contractors say the most challenging part of construction will come in the last three months.
“You've got owner-furnished equipment. You've got all of the medical x-ray equipment coming in and you've got to do a punch list. And you've got to actually say it's done and everything works and functions the way it's supposed to function,” said Burnside.
Hiring for about 250 positions is expected to begin next month with the hospital’s grand opening scheduled for October or November.