We have received a few inquiries this morning regarding our new parking structure at the main medical center campus. We are hopeful this will clarify:

Enloe Medical Center has diligently preserved parking lots and street parking for our patients and patient families that is close to the medical center’s main entrance and Emergency Room. The most convenient patient and visitor parking is available through our free valet parking service at the hospital’s main entrance.

Employees, physicians and volunteers park in our new parking structure as part of our effort to preserve parking that is most convenient for our patients. Those parking in the Enloe Parking Structure have to walk around the hospital to get to the main entrance.

We did it! Our parking structure opened at “oh-dark-thirty” today! After about one year of construction, and more than a year of parking off-site and shuttling to work, we have a nice-looking conveniently located parking structure for employees, physicians and volunteers! It feels great to complete the first phase of our Century Project expansion! Next stop: patient tower, end of 2010/beginning of 2011.

New Parking Structure

New Parking Structure

We are pleased to report that the first floor concrete work and basic infrastructure is now complete and sections of the second story are in progress. The second-story floor and walls and wood forms for the third floor should be in place by month’s end. Backfilling around the new patient tower is nearly done, bringing the earth level with the street again. Backfilling from the pile of excavated dirt will continue over the next months. In the basement of the hospital, electrical and structural work also continues. Our new primary switch gear was set in place in July. It will feed power to the new patient tower and the existing facility.

The building for Enloe’s forthcoming Health Learning Center, is under construction. Located at 1465 Esplanade, the building previously housed Enloe offices. The interior has been framed, energy efficient vinyl windows have been installed and a new handicapped-accessible ramp is being built along 5th Avenue. Trim work on the siding is scheduled to begin within the next month. The center’s mission is to meet the health care needs of our community by providing comprehensive access to health-related information and local
community resources at the depth and breadth desired by patients, families, staff and the community. It’s expected to open in early 2009.

We’ve hit a major milestone with our Century Project expansion. The parking structure will open for employees, physicians and volunteers on Friday Aug. 29 at 4 a.m. The four-level, three-story structure will provide 742 off-street parking spots, which we expect will free up much needed space for patients and visitors. Many employees have been parking at off-site lots and shuttling in - whew! It will be great to be able to park closer to the medical center.

On the patient tower front, we’ve worked our way to the third floor, with work beginning on the walls and word forms. That construction site is one busy place with lots of construction traffic.

We’re also hard at work on a Health Learning Center, right on the Esplanade - for the public to get helpful, reliable information about health care and health conditions.

More updates soon…