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"Modular Construction Delivers Mental Health Facility"
December 2002
by Douglas Crawford
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The floor plan of the facility is similar to that of a hospital. The Behavioral
Health Center has 24 patient rooms that are divided into sections for
adolescents, adults and seniors.
 In Douglas County, Oregon,
approximately one out of every five residents will suffer from some form of
mental illness at during in his or her life. The result of these emotional
problems in children are especially disturbing; the suicide rate for those aged
five to 14 years of age is nearly 80 percent higher in Oregon than the national
average. With help and treatment, most people with mental health disorders can
lead productive lives. However, Douglas County faced a difficult situation--it
lacked a central behavioral health facility for treating its growing population
of adolescents, adults and seniors suffering from mental illness.
Mercy Medical Center, based in Roseburg, Oregon, found a way to fulfill this
urgent need. The center, which is owned by Catholic Health Initiatives, serves
as the county's local 126-bed hospital. Because of the short-term availability
of capital for construction and state and federal reimbursements, hospital
administrators turned to modular construction for a faster, more cost effective
alternative to a typical site-built hospital facility. GE Capital Modular
Space, a modular buildings dealer, which had previously built three medical
office buildings and a human resources and staff training complex for the
medical center, teamed up with buildings manufacturer Blazer Industries to
develop the single-story hospital building.
To operate as an inpatient mental health facility, the new center was required
to have an I-3 (Uniform Building Code) occupancy rating. This would be the
state's first ever-modular building with this rating.
"The biggest hurdle we faced was getting our modular construction plans
approved by code enforcement officials," said Tony Haber, director of
contracted services, Mercy Medical Center. "Our meetings with the State
Building Codes Division, State Fire Marshall, and City of Roseburg Building
Department helped to increase their awareness of the benefits of off-site
construction methods."
"We worked with state and city officials to allow state building codes and life
safety codes to apply to the proposed modular buildings. With Mercy and all of
the code agencies working together we were able to get approval in time to meet
our construction schedule."
Within 100 days, the 13,424sqft Behavioral Health Center was open and at full
capacity. During the next year, modular builders worked around the clock to
ensure that the second and third phases were finished on schedule. The building
now totals 20,240sqft and consists of 24 modules. If Mercy Medical Center built
the structure via conventional methods, it would have taken at least ten months
to a year for the center to be ready for occupancy.
 "The design was complicated due to the therapeutic
nature of the facility," said GE representative Mary Zornek. "The architect's
original plan called for a conventionally built structure, so we had to design
modular construction around that layout. The manufacturer of the modules
developed an innovative structure that facilitated on-site installation.
Usually, modules are not used for patients wings, but we figured out a way to
make modular methods work for this project."
The floor plan of the facility is similar to that of a hospital. The Behavioral
Health Center has 24 patient rooms that are divided into sections for
adolescents, adults and seniors.
To produce the long hallways typically found in medical centers, the patient
wing corridors were constructed on-site. After the modular units were
installed, the corridor floors, walls and ceilings were added. Other
accommodations include a kitchen, dining and reception area along with
treatment and consultation rooms, administrative space and physicians' offices.
"We've had many people visit our campus to see this facility. None were able to
tell that the facility had not been conventionally built," said Haber. "In
fact, this center exceeds the quality of a traditionally constructed facility.
Since it was built indoors, the sections are perfectly square and the wood was
kept dry, so there's no sign of shrinkage or cracks."
 To give the facility a
"conventional" feel, the interior of the patient wing hallways were panelized.
The mechanical systems were arranged in the same way as a traditionally built
building, with pits set in the back and ducted underneath to the air handlers.
Synthetic stucco was used for the Behavioral Health Center's exterior to blend
with the other facilities on Mercy Medical Center's 90-acre campus. Due to the
amount of rain in the Northwest, genuine stucco is not often used for exterior
coverings.
Now the Behavioral Health Center serves as a regional resource for inpatient
and outpatient mental health services. Besides centralizing all of Mercy's
existing mental health programs, the Center has placed greater emphasis on
providing assessment and treatment programs for adolescents and seniors who
suffer from depression, behavioral disorders and other conditions.
Haber said modular construction "provided us with design solutions and a fast
construction process which resulted in an extremely functional health facility.
We enjoyed working with the project management team and look forward to future
opportunities where we can use modular buildings."
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