Graham Construction & Management Inc., of Spokane, has worked with the company's Seattle office to win an $11.8 million contract to build a critical access hospital in Elma, Wash., which is about 30 miles west of Olympia.

The project that began in October will replace the Mark Reed Hospital, built in 1950 and currently located in McCleary, Wash. Graham will build the single-story, 42,000-square-foot facility on a 21-acre site that the Mark Reed Health Care District owns in Elma, about eight miles from the current 10,000-square-foot hospital, says Doug Hammond, a Spokane-based Graham Construction business development manager.

The new hospital will be a Medicare-certified critical access hospital, meaning it has fewer than 26 inpatient beds and provides health care to a rural area. As does the current facility, it will have a 24-hour emergency room and will serve as a trauma center as well as a stroke center.

The hospital district estimates the total project cost at $21 million, which includes the land purchase, construction, furnishings, and equipment.

Lauren LeDuc, Mark Reed Health Care District community relations manager, says the district decided to build in Elma mainly because the existing hospital's 3-acre location isn't big enough to accommodate a larger, modern hospital. Elma also is more centrally located for the area that the health district serves, which includes five rural towns in east Grays Harbor County, she adds.

Once the new hospital is completed, the district plans to continue using a portion of the old hospital in McCleary for a health clinic already located there, while leasing out the remaining space to health care providers, LeDuc says.

The combined Graham offices expect to complete the hospital construction in about a year. The architect is Scherer Associates, of Olympia.

Hammond says Graham's contract also includes work to build a helipad, a mobile MRI facility, utility upgrades, parking areas, landscaping, and storm water treatment retention.