OTTAWA — If the building is too small for an expansion, you expand the building. That’s why a crane lifted steel superstructures to the top floor of Ransom Memorial Hospital earlier this week. The additions are part of a renovation of the hospital’s intensive care unit, said hospital CEO Larry Felix. The new ICU will be expanded and have several high-tech electronic improvements to provide better care, he said. However, the plan wouldn’t work without relocating the bathrooms and that wasn’t possible without finding some more space, he said. So the architect came up with more space with the superstructures, which were attached to the upper floor. There will an added benefit besides more space. That part of the hospital looks too boxy and the additions will give the building a bit more pizzazz and character, he said. That work should be done in March, he said. The work is part of a $9 million renovation project at the hospital that included a new surgical and obstetric addition. The final phase, which will begin soon, is an overhaul of the patient rooms, which will be converted into single-patient rooms, he said. The entire project should be complete next November, he said.
Thursday, Dec. 23, 4:30 p.m.
