NEWPORT – The three-year construction project that is remaking Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital entered its third and final phase this week.
The hospital structure known as the 1951 Building closed to patients and visitors this week as workers begin the process of tearing it down. The building was a former nursing home used as the original hospital.
Samaritan Health Services finished the $63 million main, three-story hospital last January. It spent the last year rebuilding the adjacent, two-story brick structure. Now the 1951 Building is coming down to make room for a parking lot.
Services previously located inside the 1951Building can now be found inside the hospital, the hospital said in a news release. The public can continue to get intothe hospital via the west entrance, which connects to the SPCH Galleria, until March 30. The Emergency Services entrance also continues to provide public access to the hospital.
Remodeling has also begun on the area behind the clinic located on the second floor of the new hospital building; this was used as a temporary area for infusion services. This is expected to last 90 days.
Demolition of the 1951 Building is expected to start the week of March 30, and the west entrance to the hospital galleria will be closed to everyone. When that happensthe only public entrance into the hospital and clinics will be via the emergency entrance.
Once the 1951 building is removed, the second half of the main parking area will be completed, essentially marking the end of the hospital construction and remodeling project.
