Crews Place Final Steel Beam Atop New Patient Tower

On Jan. 24, our hospital celebrated a major milestone in the construction of our new patient care tower: placement of the final steel beam.

Our partners at Turner Construction marked the moment in a special ceremony known as the topping out. During the event, Adventist HealthCare President and CEO Terry Forde and Shady Grove Medical Center President Dan Cochran thanked the crews working on our project. Then, our leaders and construction team members watched as the 190-foot construction crane raised the final two beams for the building and positioned them into place.

One beam carried the signatures of about 350 hospital team members who stopped by beam-signing events on the two days before the ceremony. Among the signatures were all three Shady Grove employees who have served our hospital since its opening in 1979: Float Pool registered nurse Lorraine Sparrow, respiratory therapist Larry Zimmer and Carleen Anderson, unit support coordinator at the Germantown Emergency Center.

The signed beam, which Turner painted white to stand out from others, will be visible in the completed building. Onlookers will be able to pick out the white beam when they look up in the tower’s elevator area.

With the structure finished, crews are working on pouring concrete and placing metal decking on the upper floors, as well as waterproofing.