The Spokane V.A. Medical Center is in the midst of a series of upgrades that will cost nearly $8 million.


The 36-bed hospital, at 4815 N. Assembly, expects to complete next month a $3.9 million project that includes the remodeling of 8,000 square feet of space to be used by the hospitals radiology department. The project includes installing new digital imaging equipment that will be used to scan patients and electronically transmit those images throughout the hospital and to other veterans hospitals in the region via a computer network, says Ron Porzio, the hospitals chief operating officer.


The radiology department currently is being housed in a temporary pre-fabricated building that has been attached to the hospital.


MTM Contractors, of Spokane, is the general contractor on the project, and Pacific Design Group PS, also of Spokane, designed the renovation.


Meanwhile, the hospital currently is seeking bids on an estimated $1.2 million project to create a 7,000-square-foot outpatient psychiatry unit on the buildings seventh floor, says Jim Johnson, the hospitals chief of engineering and technology service. That project is expected to get under way in September and to be completed next spring.


It follows a similar, $1.2 million project, completed recently, which included the renovation of the buildings third floor for the creation of a 12-bed inpatient psychiatric unit there. S&P Contractors Inc., of Spokane, was the general contractor on that project, and Pacific Design Group designed it, he says.


Next January, the hospital hopes to start renovating its fourth-floor inpatient ward. About 3,500 square feet of that 9,500-square-foot floor had housed a temporary four-bed inpatient psychiatric unit, Johnson says. The estimated $1.9 million project includes adding private and semi-private rooms, each with bathrooms. The ward previously had one central bathroom for 14 beds, Johnson says. The project currently is in the design phase and construction is expected to be completed in January 2001, depending on approval of construction funds by the U.S. Congress, he says. Zeck Butler Architects, of Spokane, is the project designer.


In addition to those major projects, the medical center, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is undergoing or will begin this fall a series of smaller projects, including the expansion of its chiller plant, a small building located near the hospital that houses the hospitals air conditioning system. The $350,000 project includes installing an additional chiller to cool portions of the hospital that have been using individual window air-conditioning units, Johnson says. Other small projects also are planned, together worth less than $600,000, including renovating the hospitals pharmacy and file room, and adding patient parking. Zeck Butler Architects is the designer for those projects.