Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
West Elementary 's Former Gymnasium Has Gone High-Tech As Part Of Hospital
The old West Elementary School gym is reborn as part of the new Kimball Health Services hospital. At left, a basketball hoop and cement block walls remained from the old gymnasium during early planning for the new hospital. At right, the area's transformation is complete as the 60,000-square-foot hospital's central utility plant.
Remember shooting a basketball or attending PE in the West Elementary School gymnasium?
Well, times have really changed.
The old gym, the lone surviving remnant of the school still in place, has begun a new life as part of the newly opened Kimball Health Services hospital.
Troy Kurz, KHS facilities director and the new hospital project manager, provided some insight to the Observer.
"The former West Elementary gymnasium space is the hospital's new central utility plant, which provides all of the heating, cooling and electrical generating equipment for the 60,000-square-foot facility," Kurz said. "This includes boilers, heating water pumps, a chiller, chilled water pumps, a medical vacuum pump and other equipment.
"Along the north wall is the main electrical switch gear, which draws power from the hospital's generator upon loss of power. A new steel superstructure was added to the former gym to support the new equipment and achieve code compliance."
And now, what was old and what is new seem to share only one similarity: using the same space.
