PINEDALE – The outline of the future critical access hospital and long-term care facility is emerging in the ground atop the hill near the Pinedale Clinic.

Work on the foundations for the new health-care campus is underway, reported Karl Lueschow, the Sublette County Hospital District’s (SCHD) owner’s representative on Sept. 27.

The work to pour concrete into the critical access hospital’s foundation is nearly complete, Lueschow said, while Teletractors, Inc. continues to excavate the foundation for the long-term care facility.

Crews with Telectractors were also installing rebar reinforcements and raising stem walls from the foundation as the dimensions of the building begin to take shape, Lueschow added.

“We are starting to see the scale of progress at the site,” Lueschow told trustees.

The installation of “under-slab” utilities, including conduits for the electrical system, is proceeding as well, Lueschow continued.

Steel for the building is expected to begin arriving this month, with the goal to “get as much steel on site before bad weather hits,” Lueschow reported.

In response to questions from trustees, Lueschow did not anticipate delays in obtaining and transporting steel to the site.

Artisans at off-site locations weld the raw steel into a pre-fabricated product that will arrive in Pinedale ready for installation, Lueschow explained.

“An enormous amount of work goes into the fabrication of steel so they can put it together like an erector set,” Lueschow said.

Layton Construction, the SCHD’s general contractor and construction manager, was developing “cost-effective” plans to winterize the entire site, from obtaining blankets to positioning heaters, Lueschow said.

The SCHD’s owner’s contingency, including funds to prepare the site for cold and snow, stood at approximately $2.3 million, Lueschow remarked to trustees. By Sept. 27, Lueschow estimated that the SCHD had spent 9.8 percent of its overall contingency fund as the project surpassed 7-percent completion.

Merger update

SCHD board chairwoman Tonia Hoffman announced a “soft date” of Dec. 31 to formally complete the merger process between the Sublette Center and hospital district.

Attorneys and representatives from both the Sublette Center and SCHD boards gathered on Sept. 6 to hash out the final details for the change of ownership that will bring the Sublette Center under the SCHD’s umbrella, Hoffman told trustees.

SCHD and Sublette Center administration also met to iron out the logistics for transferring Sublette Center employees to the SCHD to coincide with the benefit enrollment period in October, Hoffman noted. She thanked Lindsey Bond, SCHD assistant administrator, Dawn Walker, Sublette Center administrator, and Sharon Rutsch, clinical services coordinator and laboratory director, for leading the effort.

SCHD trustees passed a unanimous motion to hire accounting firm Eide Bailly to work on the financial forms for the change of ownership for an amount not to exceed $10,000. Eide Bailly collaborated with the SCHD during the loan application process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In other SCHD news

Extended hours at the Big Piney-Marbleton Clinic began on Oct. 2, reported Dr. David Burnett, SCHD medical director. The clinic will be open for an additional hour, from 5 to 6 p.m., on Mondays and Thursdays, with the lab opening early at 7:30 a.m.

“We will see how the community responds to extended hours,” he said.

Sublette Center information sessions

The Sublette Center and Sublette County Hospital District are hosting two information sessions in October regarding the upcoming hospital construction and its impact on both nursing home residents as well as apartment tenants. Each session is tailored to interested seniors and those who care for seniors and will follow a question-and-answer format.

The first session is Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 4:30 p.m., in the Heritage Apartment Meeting Room.

The second session is Monday, Oct. 23 at 4:30 p.m., in the Aspen Grove Meeting Room.