Ironworkers set final I-beam for Lynn health center project

LYNN – Observing tradition, Local 7 Ironworkers on Wednesday ceremoniously raised and bolted the final steel I-beam for the newly erected Lynn Community Health Center wing on Union Street.The topping-off ceremony marked the close of the foundation and framework phase of the project, which began with a ground-breaking in July.”It went up abnormally fast, so we did beat the weather,” said Wayne Arruda, project executive for Bond, the general contractor. “It was an old urban site where the Warner Theater once stood. We had to remove a lot of existing debris and buried walls.”Arruda said ironworkers will install metal flooring as crews arrive to complete the exterior sheathing. A glass atrium will connect the original health center building with the new wing, he said.The wing contains a basement and two floors. The first patients in the walk-in clinic will come through the doors in July 2011, presuming the project remains on schedule.Wednesday’s ceremony, replete with a lunch provided by Local 7, was highlighted by an I-beam signing, as those who worked on or were affiliated with the project scrawled their names on the steel. The I-beam, hoisted by a crane, was capped with a small evergreen tree with red bow and flanked by POW-MIA and United States flags.With the beam dangling from a cable, ironworker Jerry DiBari and foreman Chris Sponholtz of Lynn, hauled on tag lines until the pre-drilled steel was aligned and bolted.The crowd of health-center employees, ironworkers and onlookers erupted in applause when the work was done.Local 7 Business Agent Paul Lynch said 19 union ironworkers were employed for the project. “Our guys in the building trades work hard, in any weather. They did a great job here,” he said, noting that ironworkers will remain on site for 2-3 weeks until the building is sealed.Major funding for the project came from the Affordable Care Act, said health center spokesman Cynthia Steger-Wilson.The expanded walk-in clinic and central registration will be operational by summer, while the second phase that includes a dental clinic and additional primary care space, is slated for completion in February 2012, she said.The second phase also includes an enlarged lab, radiology and mammography suite on the first floor. The basement will be used for administrative purposes.The overall expansion will allow the facility to provide health care to 7,000 new patients, in addition to the more than 33,000 who already rely on the health center for their primary health care. The health center project is expected to create 100 new jobs, both in construction and new health-center positions, according to Steger-Wilson.”This project will have a very positive impact on the health and well-being of our community,” said health center Executive Director Lori Abrams Berry. “More than one third of the people of Lynn rely on us for comprehensive, integrated services that include medical, behavioral health, dental and eye care.”Berry said the improvements will allow the health center to provide disease management and prevention services to reduce the need for emergency medical treatment.The total expansion cost is projected at $18.8 million, funded through $1.3 million in federal stimulus funding received in 2009; $2.6 million in new markets tax credits through MassDevelopment and US Bank; $6.9 million in capital grants through the Federal Health Care Reform Affordable Care Act and $2 million in long-term financing.The remaining $6 million is being raised through a capital campaign launched last June.