New Calais hospital plans move ahead at groundbreaking

A ground-breaking ceremony for the new Calais Regional Hospital facility was held on Wednesday morning, June 8, at the Manning Street building site. The event, which officially marked the kick-off of the public and final phase of the capital campaign for the replacement hospital, began with a welcome from Dennis Mahar, Calais Regional Hospital board chairman. A review of the project was given by CRH Chief Executive Officer Ray Davis Jr.

"The challenge is to maintain our financial viability while continuing, and even improving, service to the widespread geography that is the Calais region," Davis explained. "Despite our relatively small population, utilization of hospital services continues to increase. With growing numbers of patients and visitors to CRH, the current facility has been stretched to capacity."

Michael Aube, state director of United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, told the crowd, "The replacement hospital is important to the community as it will be significantly more efficient than the existing facility and better able to meet the needs of the 16,000 people in its service area." USDA Rural Development has invested $18.7 million to make the new hospital possible.

Capital campaign co-chairs Drew Case and Nick DelMonaco Jr. gave the assemblage an update on their effort, noting that the campaign includes a lead gift of $100,000 from Domtar Industries' Woodland mill. Debby Feck, general manager of the mill, spoke of the community benefit from a new building to replace the present facility. The new hospital will be significantly more efficient than the existing one, which opened in 1955.

"Domtar does not usually contribute to hospitals or to bricks and mortar, but we are making a pledge in this case because of the leadership role CRH plays in our community," pointed out Feck.

The design of the new 60,000-square-foot building was created by Johnson, Johnson, Crabtree Architects P.C. of Nashville, Tenn. The general contractor for the project is The Robins-Morton Group of Brentwood, Tenn. Areas have been carefully designed for specific purposes, with larger operating rooms, private emergency triage and treatment areas, private registration stations, and a quiet inpatient unit. The replacement facility will also provide 30 percent more patient parking, separate staff and employee parking and entrance, separate waiting areas for the emergency room, maternity and gowned patients, and a classroom that seats up to 50 people.