Hospital ground breaking

On Wednesday morning Jasper County Hospital had the ceremonial groundbreaking for its new expansion. There were a lot of people there and also a lot of shovels.

The real groundbreaking had occurred earlier, and as a result the gathering crowd had to move out of the way for a dump truck entering the construction site.

It went around the corner and was quickly filled by an excavator.

Then the speeches began. Bruce Wood, head of hospital board of trustees, was the emcee. First up was a representative from the Department of Agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture Office of Rural Development is providing funding for the expansion in the form of a $15 million dollar low-interest loan that will be paid back over 40 years. Next a representative from Senator Bayh's office spoke briefly, followed by Kendell Culp from the Jasper County Commissioners, who wished it had been a grant rather than a loan. They were followed by a representative of the architects, who I think were Hope Associates. The last speaker was a representative of the contractor, Meyer Najem.

Then it was time to hand out shovels. They had a few extra. I wonder if sometimes an onlooker picks up one and gets into the photo.

I was disappointed that none of them actually filled a shovel. Of course it would not have done any good--the expansion will not cover the spot where they were standing.

After all the talk and posing, it was time for some cookies and punch in the recently completed office complex.

As I was listening to the speeches, I saw activity in the north. Some kind of pole was going up.

City crews were apparently putting up a replacement pole along Bomber Drive.

And there was a REMC bucket truck by the Jasper County Community Services Building giving a demonstration for the Head Start Kids.

For move information about the hospital expansion, check the hospital website. Here is part of the plan for the expansion from their pdf file. The completed 7328 square-foot office building is small compared to the 26,746 feet of building addition that will be attached to the hospital.