Loading...Welcome into another addition of electric TV supply information and entertainment about the electrical construction industry powered by the NECA-IBEW team. As always, I am your host, Dominic Girratano and thanks for making us part of your day.
Electrical construction takes on many forms and because each project is just as important as the last, here on ETV, we attempt to showcase them all. When lives are at stake, the stakes are higher. It goes without saying that the installation of today’s critical life safety systems in a hospital setting have to be completed by the best our industry has to offer. So when changes were needed to an aging hospital facility in Canton, Ohio to increase capacity and elevate care, there first call was to the NECA-IBEW team.
Nick Bagnolo – VP of construction & Facilities, Sisters of Charity Health Systems
“We’re expanding our emergency department. It was size for about 44,000 visits a year. We’re currently seeing about 65,000 patients a year. Projects are probably going to go up to about 70 or 80 thousand.”
That’s almost 200% what this ER was designed to handle. The solution? Construction. A new waiting room that 200% bigger than the current one, a radiology exam room right in the emergency room, 5 bed triodes unit and 24 new exam rooms.
Nick Bagnolo – VP of construction & Facilities, Sisters of Charity Health Systems
“When it comes to our contractors and you look at construction in a healthcare setting, it’s unique. We have to coordinate shutdowns and we have to be cognizant of dust and dirt and noise vibration.”
Mike Abbott – President, Abbott Electric
“Today we were trying to pack medical gas systems, electrical systems, low voltage communication technology, into a ceiling space that was never designed for it. A new building you can design the structure to fit what you want to put in it. In this case you have to work around and deal with what you have.”
Nick Bagnolo – VP of construction & Facilities, Sisters of Charity Health Systems
“Our list of sub-contractors in the hospital proper really is a short one. There’s not a lot of healthcare qualified contractors out there in my opinion. Abbotts one of them. They bring a nice blend to the table.”
John Dale – Estimator/ Project Manager, Abbott Electric
“One thing, you know, that Abbott electric has that’s unique you know is that we have a voice in the data and some of the low volley systems in house. Most electrical contractors don’t have that. They’re relying on outside sources.”
Jim Pianalto – Project Manager, Ruhlin Company
“When someone’s working on a fire alarm system they have to carry a special license if you will to do that type of work. It’s not just your typical conduit and wire pull. Even some regards to grounding and things like that. There’s a lot of specialties that these guys know.”
John Dale – Estimator/ Project Manager, Abbott Electric
“The difference between life and death really can be the difference in the speed of the communications, you know, within the facility. So it a great responsibility that we take on and we welcome it, and we’re experts at it and that why were hired to do this job at Mercy Medical.”
Troy Schafrath – Foreman, IBEW Local 540
“We’re just in the beginning faces of roughing in the walls and, you know, getting the project moving in a constructive instead of a destructive path.”
Mike Abbott – President, Abbott Electric
“Mercy Medical is kind of special to me because I was born there. Not only was I born there, my mother went to nursing school there. Not only did she go to nursing school there, my father worked on the wiring and he was one of the jury men IBEW workers when they built the school of nursing. Ten years ago I remodeled the school of nursing for the hospital. So it’s kind of got a little bit of a family appeal there that draws us.”
Phillip Williams – Business Manager/ Financial Secretary, IBEW Local 540
“It’s important for the billing trades to be a part of the community and also a part of building the hospital and the basis for it. They support the community, they support the hospital and having skilled craftsman that eventually may have to use that facility. Knowing the skills and the abilities of the people that put it together, they feel safe when they’re going into these facilities.”
Jennifer O’Connell – Executive Director, North Central Ohio Chapter of NECA
“That’s the advantage of hiring a NECA contactor to do work in hospitals because they’re very well trained and they’re courteous and that know how to handle that type of situation.”
Kevin Hall – General Forman, IBEW Local 540
“The jobs I have ran for Abbott, I was only as good as the guys under me, you know, so I can’t take all the credit when a job does come in well. As it goes from the top to the bottom it’s all about, you know, keeping that close-kit family and guys wanting to perform well for the company.”
Mike Abbott – President, Abbott Electric
“Growing up I used to make fun of my dad for driving down the street and saying ‘I did that building. I worked on that building.’ And my son says the same thing to me now. ‘Dad why do you have to tell me about that?’ Because it’s what you do, it’s in your blood and you just love doing it.”
Nick Bagnolo – VP of construction & Facilities, Sisters of Charity Health Systems
“One of the things we’ve committed to here, I think I can say this very openly because it’s the way we run our construction projects, is we have committed to union labor on all our trades. And in a healthcare setting it makes a difference. It really does. They’re trained, they’re knowledgeable and they’ve got the theory behind it. They were just taught by Uncle Charlie more or less. So there’s a big difference. Big difference.”
So, if you’re a hospital or healthcare facility in need of any sort of construction services from renovation to modernization, with offices and affiliated contractors and craftsmen from coast to coast, the NECA IBEW team is the choice for your electrical needs. As the Mercy Medical representatives said, on jobs done by the NECA IBEW team, you can tell the difference. That’ll do it for this addition. Do follow us on Twitter if you aren’t doing so already. If you’re a Facebook user, we’re there too. Thanks for your time and attention to this story. If you liked it send it to a friend or college. From Electric TV, I’m Dominic Girratano. See you next time.