MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital is an acute care center for a large and diverse community across Puyallup and East Pierce County, Washington. The hospital offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient health care services, including a family birth center, a Children’s Therapy Unit, a 24-hour Emergency Department and pharmacy, cancer care through Tacoma General licensed MultiCare Regional Cancer Center, mental health programs, surgical services and more. The hospital is part of Multicare, a not-for-profit health care organization, which is the largest community-based, locally governed healthcare system in the state of Washington.

Because Good Samaritan Hospital is a very busy facility (and in fact, is Puyallup’s only hospital), they are responsible for a majority of the patient care in the community. When they decided to upgrade their energy systems to realize future cost savings, they turned to the experts to install a combination heat and power plant. Our Crane Services Team worked alongside Mckinstry between July and October to complete the job, and executed it with careful coordination and precision along the way.

The Project

Good Samaritan Hospital was one of the first in the area to install a combination heat and power plant (CHP) to upgrade their energy services and realize future cost savings.

We oversaw the receiving, handling, storage and local shipping responsibilities for the project and leveraged a combination of teamwork between our Rigging, Specialized Transport, storage and Crane Service divisions to complete.

The Process

The project included the move and assembly of a 10,000 pound boiler and accessories, along with a variety of power plant equipment, structural towers and a rad condenser unit.

First, the boiler work and miscellaneous piping was installed inside the mechanical room at the hospital with a forklift and skates by our rigging team. The structural towers, rad condenser and miscellaneous piping was picked and then set with a 350 ton crane by Omega Morgan Crane and Mckinstry. The power plant equipment was delivered by OM Rigging and Specialized Transport.

Onsite, our 550 ton crane off-loaded and set the pieces as directed by Mckinstry, with coordination from the Martin Energy Group, who was also onsite. Our rigging team then skated the complete power plant that had been assembled into its final position between two buildings, and matched it up with the pipe fittings on the structural tower, as was directed by Mckinstry for the final hookup.

Throughout the process, we used a variety of equipment, including:

• Rigging crew, forklifts, skates, and jacking system
• Rigging tractors, drivers and trailers
• A specialized tractor and 80 Ton Faymonville trailer
• A 275 ton crane, a 350 ton crane, and a 550 ton crane, and
• A crane signalman and riggers.

The Solution

The project was completed over a weekend when disruption to the hospital patients and employees could be minimized. We navigated a tight work area, which limited crane setups and equipment delivery, and also coordinated with the city of Puyallup, the hospital and Mckinstry to route the equipment through the required street closures. The project was further complicated by wind and rain in the area.

Despite a number of challenges, we are proud to have completed the job successfully. We adjusted the schedule to ensure the equipment and crews were available, and coordinated a variety of processes along the way to complete the project. In the end, Good Samaritan Hospital, Mckinstry and Martin Energy Group were all extremely pleased with the outcome and grateful that everything had been completed safely.