Assisted living

Northwest La. War Veterans Home built with comfort in mind

By Karla Wall

When it's completed in October, the 156-bed Northwest Louisiana War Veterans Home in Bossier City, La., will be the fourth state-operated assisted living facility for veterans.

Facilities are currently operating in the Louisiana cities of Jennings, Jackson and Monroe. A fifth home, located in Reserve, La., is also under construction and will be completed later.

Work began on the $16.3 million Bossier City home in April 2005, said project manager Todd Polk, who works for general contractor Walton Construction in Shreveport.

The 16.8-acre site will consist of a 91,000-sq.-ft. central building which will house an administration wing with 15 offices, supply room, library, speech and occupational therapy room, chapel, day room/parlor, barber shop, kitchen and dining areas, pharmacy and mechanical control room.

advertisement

Polk said the building is a typical hospital/nursing home design, with four wings spreading out from a central core. Nurses' stations, each measuring 10 by 20 ft., will be located at the entrance to each wing.

The building will have standard rooms, a unit for Alzheimer's patients, dining and kitchen areas and a recreation area.

The facility will also include two 80- by 40-ft. buildings to support maintenance and arts and crafts. A truck dock will be placed between the two buildings.

A 6-ft. undercut was required for the footprint of the central building, said construction superintendent John Walker of Walton Construction.

About 40,000 cu. yds. of select fill, imported from Murphy Bros.' pit in Red Chute, La., were used to shape the property and an additional 70,000 cu. yds. were added for the 6-in.-thick building pad.

About 4 ft. of limestone cushion was placed under the 4-in. slab, which was formed with 4,000-psi concrete.

The slab was formed in nine pours of 10,000 sq. ft. each, Walker said. The concrete, a moderate fly ash mixture, was supplied by Builder's Supply in Shreveport.

Exteriors are constructed using three types of masonry veneer.

More than 371,000 modular mace bricks supplied by Acme were used, as well as 27,000 8- by 15-in. split-face masonry/aggregate blocks supplied by American Block. Standard CMU, also supplied by American Block, was used for the exterior of the maintenance and crafts buildings.

The structure for all three buildings consists of 4- to 6-in. steel columns supplied by Alcha Welding of Shreveport.

Central power supply for the complex will be located in the mechanical room in the central administration building, said Ronnie Hays of Camus Electric of Shreveport, electrical subcontractor for the project.

From the SWEPCO transformer, cable is routed 5 ft. underground in seven 4-in. conduits to the main distribution panel to 27 distribution panels located in each wing and in the individual rooms.

Nineteen emergency distribution panels are also located throughout the building.

Wiring for each wing is routed through cable trays located in the ceiling back to the nurses station in each wing. Each nurse station is equipped with closed-circuit video monitoring systems, with each wing equipped with six to eight cameras located in the corridors and at each wing entrance.

Of special note, the project called for 25,000 ft. of television cable and 25,000 ft. of twisted cable for the nurse call systems; 30,000 ft. of twisted cable for the fire alarm speakers and cable for the alarm system itself; 220,000 ft. of copper wire for lights and plugs; 110,000 of EMT conduit; and 1,800 ft. of underground PVC conduit from .75 to 6 in.

Cooling and heating is supplied by a boiler system rather than a chilled water system, said Chris Carter of Berg Mechanical of Shreveport, mechanical subcontractor on the project.

The system consists of water-source heat pumps, patient room units and 18-ton units in the common areas. Heating is provided by 2 million BTU boilers located in the mechanical room.

The main corridor units are equipped with high-efficiency vinyl filters. 17,000 ft. of copper piping ranging in size from .5 to 4 in. was used, says Carter.

The sewer system is routed through 4,800 ft. of cast-iron pipe located 36 in. below ground. Venting for the system is provided by 9,000 ft. of PVC ranging from 2 to 6 in. diameter.

The ceiling height in the central core area was a problem, Carter said.

"There wasn't much ceiling space," he added. "We did as much as we could before fabrication. We had a game plan well before it was installed."