The photograph to the left pictures a new six-story stair tower under construction (a life safety issue corrected as part of this expansion). To the right of the stair tower is the old Main Building. The delivery wing projects to the rear. To the left of the stair tower is the second floor addition, being constructed over the existing Mental Health Unit.

This project presented some major problems. We could not close or relocate either the Maternity or the Mental Health Departments. We had to solve a "dead-end" exiting situation on several floors. , The exterior walls had to be removed for the construction to take place and there would be no direct access to the second floor addition until the stair tower could be built.

The photograph to the right is looking down the lower portion of the stair tower.

In the planning stage our focus was to keep traffic flowing in the Maternity Department in a safe and sanitary manner, while constructing the addition over the existing Mental Health Unit. We then performed renovations of the existing department in a series of small "steps". Since the corridor was to remain, we could screen-off one side of the department at a time and renovate each area systematically. This kept the path of egress open; thus minimizing the impact on hospital operations and patient and employee life safety. F. L. Hoffman Corporation worked very closely with the architects, engineers, and hospital personnel to prepare a step by step plan to successfully accomplish this goal.