MRI Addition - Mt. Carmel Health Systems
Healthcare
MRI Addition
The Project
QPM was asked to manage construction of a new MRI addition, including a machine room and waiting room, onto the busiest emergency room in Columbus, Ohio. The addition was being added so ER personnel would have quick access to MRI equipment.
The QPM Solution
This initiative presented many challenges for QPM and the hospital:
- Weather
Site work began in November and continued through January. Despite snow and rain, QPM had to manage construction of a new parking lot and utilities – work which had to be completed before construction of the actual addition could begin.
- Ongoing Emergency Room Operations
During the entire construction phase, the existing Emergency Room had to remain in operation. This created a need for substantial noise and dust barriers to avoid impacting the critical activities taking place literally feet away from the construction site.
- Accommodating Large Equipment
The plan developed by the architect failed to accommodate the tremendous size of the MRI equipment itself – it was actually unable to fit through the planned doors to the building. After studying the situation and options, QPM recommended that the back wall of the addition be eliminated entirely and replaced with a custom rollup door (roughly 16 feet high by 18 feet wide) so that the MRI unit could be brought into the building.
- Exterior Canopy Costs
After reviewing the architectural plans, QPM discovered that the architect had planned for a standard stucco heavyweight canopy. QPM instead proposed using a pre-fabricated canopy, saving the client hundreds of thousands of dollars in materials and labor fees.
- Fire and Security System Integration
When QPM determined that the fire and security alarm system purchased for the new addition would not compatible with the current system in place in the Emergency Room, QPM developed a plan for connecting the two and also developed a future process for coordinating the systems to aid the client with planning future development projects.
- MRI Equipment Emissions
When it was determined that nitrogen releases from the new MRI equipment was damaging the room, QPM had to find a solution to raise the roof another two feet and determine a new ceiling material that could withstand the nitrogen emissions.
The Results
The project was completed within six months, and the engineering recommendations made by QPM saved the client substantial expenditures and, in the case of the rollup door, literally saved the project itself.
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