Clinic undergoes inspection, almost ready

The newly built Alaska Island Community Services clinic underwent its final inspection last week by a team of professionals from across the State of Alaska in preparation for the facility opening in early December.

Project superintendent Mike Ashton said the inspection went as planned and only involved minor items as the clinic nears its opening.

“We had four different inspectors show up and they went through the building and looked at mechanical and electrical systems,” Ashton said. “The electrical and mechanical designers, along with the architects’ representative came up and did the inspection to make sure that we have fulfilled the contract documents.”

Ashton added that his team had received a punch-list of minor items that were slated to require attention before the building could officially open.

“We received the list of the items we had to fix and it was typical, because we just go through and fix these things,” Ashton added. “So we had the inspection and we’re waiting for the response to that. Generally, there will be a couple more things we’ll have to go in and look at, but the building now is pretty much how it’s going to end up.”

Ashton also said that all the “electrical and mechanical systems were completely functional,” as of the date of the inspection.

AICS Crossings executive director Steve Helgeson said everything went according to plan – and that the building will begin being used by the end of the year.

“I can tell you, we will be utilizing the building by mid- to late December,” Helgeson said.

The clinic had originally been slated to open in late September or part of October, but that was delayed for a number of reasons.

“It was originally announced that we were going to be open earlier, but there are a lot of factors here because big jobs take longer and that’s just the nature of things,” Helgeson said. “There were some material supply issues with respect to the contractor. That had an effect on the timing of construction.”

McGraw Custom Construction of Sitka was the general contractor on the project.

For now, according to Helgeson, it is a matter of getting equipment in and the building ready for tenancy.

“Currently, we are up there with our IT staff and they are hooking everything up,” Helgeson added. “All of the equipment, fixtures and furniture have been ordered and, as they come in, we’ll be assembling it and installing it in the building. We are actually going to open portions of the building and get them going before we are completely finished with every single part of it.”

The new clinic, located on Wood Street, will nearly double the number of examination rooms available to AICS clients. It cost nearly $4 million to build and will also offer a community room for educational purposes and features two nursing stations for patients who need follow-up appointments after seeing their doctors.