Sage Living
St. John's Health Sage Living | Jackson, Wyoming
Completed as GE Johnson Construction Company
Situated on the edge of the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, Sage Living replaces the existing Living Center on the St. John’s Medical Campus with an authentic facility that is designed to de-institutionalize assisted living and reinforce home and community.
About
The Project
Sage Living provides long-term nursing care with private rooms, specialized Alzheimer’s and dementia support, and an acute physical and functional rehabilitation program for those recovering from injuries and illnesses such as strokes, traumatic injuries, COPD, and heart failure. This center replaced the old five-star St. John’s Living Center facility.
The facility features 72 beds, long-term care neighborhoods, a memory support neighborhood, and an 11,000-sq.-ft. town square for reception, staff offices, and dining and culinary services. A 6,000-sq.-ft. basement was constructed, providing ample space for central services, laundry, and storage.
The structure consists of three levels of structural steel frame over a foundation of isolated and continuous footings. The exterior skin is made up of masonry and siding, aluminum-clad windows, curtain walls, and storefront glazing makeup of the exterior openings. A PVC roofing membrane is also included.
ENR Mountain States Best Regional Project - Healthcare
2022
Fast
Facts
- Our project team ensured the residents continued to have unobstructed views of the Elk Refuge during construction.
- The facility houses a 16-bed transitional care unit for patients requiring short-term rehabilitation to help better introduce them back into everyday life.
- The living center is being built as a household model, one of the best practices in long-term care and skilled nursing.
Planning
Ahead
To achieve the needed shoring, a 15-foot basement wall was built, and the plan called for dirt to be placed on one side of the wall. The team realized they needed a dual-situation shoring plan to allow them to backfill the foundation prior to having the required slab-on-grade and deck-slab placed.
Soil engineers were brought in and determined the soil could be 1:1 instead of the traditional 2:1. Geofoam was used in the east and west wings of the facility as backfill to continue operations before concrete was placed in the basement. Temporary shoring was placed in areas that needed backfill first. Excavation stayed open in the few areas not being worked on to keep the cost down.
The multifaceted process took two months to coordinate and two months to execute. Ultimately, the team’s innovative approach to solving the shoring issue so the slab-on-grade and deck-slab could be poured was successful.
Maintaining
The View
A portion of the site utilities and chill water supply were drawn to run through the solarium at the north end of the original living center. Initially, the plan was to seal off the solarium from the living center, demo it, and run the utilities, but as the team got to know the facility better through preconstruction and early construction activities, they learned how important the solarium was to the residents of the living center. It overlooks the Elk Refuge and offers a view of the valley to the north.
The team collaborated with the civil engineer and the hospital to expose all utilities running in the 10 feet between the living center and the elk refuge fence to formulate a plan to get all the utilities in the small space while keeping the solarium up and running. This ended up being a win-win, allowing the residents to keep the solarium during construction, and $100,000 of the project’s budget was returned to the hospital.
A Safe Site
For All
The team not only had to provide a safe environment for our workers but also ensure no harm was caused to the elk refuge located north of the project. All materials were required to be weighed down, secured, or picked up to avoid wind gusts blowing materials across the fence into the refuge. A thorough hot work permit was followed to keep all sparks and welding slag contained within the project perimeter to avoid the chance of fires. This was done by using welding blankets and keeping hot work operations limited to a few areas within the project.
Winter construction in Jackson, Wyoming can also be very challenging, so heating stations were always available during the winter months where workers could go to warm up. The project team arrived before everybody else anytime there was a snow event to ensure pathways were cleaned and safe.
Planning
Ahead
To achieve the needed shoring, a 15-foot basement wall was built, and the plan called for dirt to be placed on one side of the wall. The team realized they needed a dual-situation shoring plan to allow them to backfill the foundation prior to having the required slab-on-grade and deck-slab placed.
Soil engineers were brought in and determined the soil could be 1:1 instead of the traditional 2:1. Geofoam was used in the east and west wings of the facility as backfill to continue operations before concrete was placed in the basement. Temporary shoring was placed in areas that needed backfill first. Excavation stayed open in the few areas not being worked on to keep the cost down.
The multifaceted process took two months to coordinate and two months to execute. Ultimately, the team’s innovative approach to solving the shoring issue so the slab-on-grade and deck-slab could be poured was successful.
Maintaining
The View
A portion of the site utilities and chill water supply were drawn to run through the solarium at the north end of the original living center. Initially, the plan was to seal off the solarium from the living center, demo it, and run the utilities, but as the team got to know the facility better through preconstruction and early construction activities, they learned how important the solarium was to the residents of the living center. It overlooks the Elk Refuge and offers a view of the valley to the north.
The team collaborated with the civil engineer and the hospital to expose all utilities running in the 10 feet between the living center and the elk refuge fence to formulate a plan to get all the utilities in the small space while keeping the solarium up and running. This ended up being a win-win, allowing the residents to keep the solarium during construction, and $100,000 of the project’s budget was returned to the hospital.
A Safe Site
For All
The team not only had to provide a safe environment for our workers but also ensure no harm was caused to the elk refuge located north of the project. All materials were required to be weighed down, secured, or picked up to avoid wind gusts blowing materials across the fence into the refuge. A thorough hot work permit was followed to keep all sparks and welding slag contained within the project perimeter to avoid the chance of fires. This was done by using welding blankets and keeping hot work operations limited to a few areas within the project.
Winter construction in Jackson, Wyoming can also be very challenging, so heating stations were always available during the winter months where workers could go to warm up. The project team arrived before everybody else anytime there was a snow event to ensure pathways were cleaned and safe.
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