Mille Lacs Health System

Nor-Son managed the remodel and construction of a new addition for a rural hospital and nursing home while working around a unique set of challenges.

Nor-Son's value engineering was called on to rescue a troubled project.

Communication between a previous builder and Mille Lacs Hospital resulted in a bid that unfortunately went over budget. Asked to step in, we called on our best value engineering minds and helped them save $2 million.

Struggling to modernize a cramped hospital.

The hospital's age and size made it virtually impossible to get the appropriate mechanical equipment, such as nurse calling systems and piping, into the old building all at once. So we broke the construction plan down into several phases—like solving a jigsaw puzzle, our project manager and superintendent pieced together how the systems would be installed, which areas to work on first, and how to move operational hospital departments around the construction.

We're proud of our commitment to infection control and clear communication.

It's expected as part of the job that the hospital and nursing home would remain fully operational. But we're proud of how we did it: by communicating with hospital staff, inquiring and adapting to their demanding work needs, learning from them how to direct traffic throughout construction for the easiest workflow, and keeping a clean site to protect their pristine reputation.

Infection control required building sealed temporary partitions, supplied and filtered by negative air machines to protect the safety of frail patients. To manage noise and vibration during times of critical care, such as surgeries, we created an in-depth communication plan that helped us coordinate construction in hospital and nursing home staff, so they could confidently perform their duties without worry of unexpected interruptions.