Lead architect is Valley firm

Ground was broken for the new hospital in June 2005.
BOARDMAN -- A Youngstown architectural firm is working with a company from Columbus to design the new St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center expected to open in July 2007.
"Collaboration is a good thing, and two heads are better than one," said Rodney Lamberson, vice president/principal at Strollo Architects Inc.
The Youngstown company is the lead architect on the project with Moody Nolan of Columbus assisting.
Bill Miller, who heads the Columbus firm's health-care group, and Lamberson have known each other for about 30 years. Lamberson specializes in health-care architecture. Their friendship played a role in the cooperative effort.
The aggressive schedule also factored in.
"From architect selection through to the end of the project is a far shorter time frame than for most projects of this scope and nature," Lamberson said.
Steel is coming this week
Humility of Mary Health Partners, which also plans to maintain St. E's in Youngstown, broke ground on the new hospital in June 2005.
Foundation work is under way, and steel for the project is expected to arrive this week.
The new $77 million facility will boast seven stories and 108 private patient rooms, all with private baths, flat-screen TVs and Internet access. Twelve beds will be allocated for intensive care, 96 for regular adult care. In addition, there are 20 beds for pediatric care.
Genie Aubel, president of St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center, said each of the rooms is equipped with electronic monitoring devices, such as heart monitors. In many facilities, patients must be moved to other rooms or floors when they require monitoring.
Sally Hammel, a St. E's spokeswoman, said the cancer center, emergency and diagnostic center and the YMCA/Wellness Center, already at the site, remain open throughout construction.
The entrance from Market Street has been closed, but the centers remain accessible from McClurg, she said.
HMHP started developing the Boardman campus in the late 1990s, beginning with the cancer center. In 2001, a 24-hour emergency room was added. That building was replaced in 2003 with a new facility that offers emergency and diagnostic services and an emergency room.
The D.D. and Velma Davis YMCA and the St. Elizabeth Wellness Center opened in 2003 as a partnership between HMHP and the Youngstown YMCA.