HILLSBORO -- Tayna Wylder looked on Tuesday as her crew delicately molded concrete for the central plaza of the $344 million Kaiser PermanenteWestside Medical Center, the first new hospital in Washington County in 40 years.
View full sizeTayna Wylder, right, works alongside her crew as they wrap up work on the elaborate plaza entry to Kaiser Permanente's new hospital in Hillsboro. Wylder is one of a dozen women owners of companies with contracts on the construction.
"It's the hardest job we've ever had," said Wylder, owner of Star Construction Services. "It's tested our company extensively."
Wylder's crew started work on the facility in 2010, among the nearly 2,000 workers chipping in on the new facility.Kaiser, the nation's largest nonprofit health management organization, hopes to open the facility to patients and 1,100 employees in August 2013.
Virtually all construction is complete on the Tanasbourne-area facility. The plaza is intended to be a central courtyard and entryway for the hospital; a warm and open place where sick patients or their friends and family can find refuge.
Woman-owned firms like Wylder's took in $33.7 million in contracts on the soon-to-be-finished 126-bed hospital, accounting for roughly 27 percent of construction costs, according to Kaiser figures. Minority firms took home $7.5 million, or 6.5 percent of costs.
With private companies like Kaiser and public entities creating minimum requirements for woman and minority-owned contractor involvement, Wylder said companies like hers are not as much of a rarity these days as they used to be. "It's going to be the new norm," she said of the diversifying face of construction. "That's the way the industry is trending."
Star Construction is scheduled to work on the Sellwood bridge replacement, but project delays put their duties a couple years out. Work continues on the Willamette River bridge on Interstate 5 in Eugene, but that will end soon.
So, despite the bright, sunny day and the fact that her whole crew was working across Hillsboro, Wylder said she still feels the weight of a recession that has hammered construction firms everywhere in recent years. "I feel a big pressure to keep our employees employed," she said.
Ultimately, said Wylder, 43, it's a simple equation. Like everybody else, "we need more work."
(Kaiser Permanente's Westside Medical Center is the first new hospital in Washington County in nearly 40 years. A Business section article Wednesday gave incorrect information.)
Retrieved from: http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2012/05/kaiser_permanentes_hillsboro_h.html
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