DPR crews continue to provide critical care — on a smaller scale — at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, CA. Since completing the 45,000-sq.-ft. renovation of the hospital’s new Women’s Center in time for the first scheduled delivery in October of 1998, DPR has become an extension of Scripps’ Facilities Department with two to four people remaining on-site to respond immediately to hospital needs.

“Our ongoing work at Scripps is representative of DPR’s commitment to better serve the customer no matter what the scope of work may be,” said Steve Sherrer of DPR. Sherrer is a member of DPR’s Special Services Group (SSG) that was created specifically to handle customers’ small to mid-size tenant improvement jobs for a wide range of industries, and over the last two years, DPR’s SSG in San Diego has successfully completed more than $4 million in small healthcare construction.

The projects for Scripps range from facility assistance to operating rooms, cardiovascular laboratories, general surgery suites and radiology rooms to structural (SPC) and non-structural (NPC) requirements mandated by Senate Bill 1953. Despite the size of the projects, Sherrer added that DPR provides the same level of detailed attention to safety, infection control, schedule, system shut downs, and Office of Statewide Health and Planning Development (OSHPD) procedures.

“Our goal is to recognize problems before they occur and minimize the impact construction can have on patient care. Healthcare work is a very unique type of construction, especially in California where you have to really know and understand all of the steps and procedures required by OSHPD to maintain a smooth permitting process,” said Sherrer, who began his career with DPR on the Scripps Memorial Hospital Women’s Center project.

“California’s OSHPD requirements, combined with the need to work around a hospital’s critical 24-hour operations to preserve a safe, healing environment, add to the complexity of the projects,” said Sherrer. “The key to building in healthcare is building relationships of trust — relationships that transcend from end-users and doctors, owners and facility staff, inspectors and fire marshals, and ultimately to the patients being treated.”