Heliplanners is proud to have been involved with the replacement hospital project at Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley. One of the first items in this major project was to relocate the existing at-grade helistop (helicopter landing area) to make room for construction of the new hospital building. Heliplanners was brought on board to assist the overall project team with the site selection, planning, design and permitting for the new helistop.

The selected site provides ready access to the Emergency Department while meeting all aviation design criteria including the all-important airspace obstruction-clearance criteria. The site presented some challenges to build in an area that will be used throughout construction, and then link to the new hospital once it opens in 2013. We had to take into consideration the airspace clearance, existing structures, ongoing construction and most direct access to the Trauma Center. The first step was for the construction crews to prepare the site, which was to grade a small hill just 150 feet from the existing location.

With a nod toward overall community disaster preparedness, the new helistop is designed to accommodate aircraft as large as the Sikorsky Blackhawk, which is used by most military branches including the Coast Guard and National Guard. This allows the Medical Center to accommodate that helicopter for disaster relief in event of a major earthquake, wildfire, terrorist attack, airline or train accident, etc. Of course, the typical patient transports would be provided with much smaller helicopters locally by REACH, CALSTAR, Stanford LifeFlight and CHP.

Heliplanners assisted Sutter Health‘s project team by providing liaison and permitting assistance with the Federal Aviation Administration, Caltrans Division of Aeronautics and the Alameda County Airport Land Use Commission. We also assisted the project team with countless details related to construction of the helistop to ensure that, when completed, it would qualify for the Heliport Permit issued by Caltrans Division of Aeronautics during its final inspection. Caltrans inspected the helistop and issued the permit on October 27, 2009. 

Heliplanners, based in Temecula, California, has assisted hospital, law enforcement, fire department and corporate clients with heliport development throughout the United States since 1987. In that time, we have been involved with well over 125 heliport projects in over 20 states. We congratulate Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley on the excellence of its approach to the entire hospital reconstruction project, providing a state-of-the-art medical center for Castro Valley residents.

It’s been a busy week since the opening of the new helipad site on October 28. Construction continued right through the ceremony and is in full swing again this week. Here are a few highlights, with more to come!

Crews complete the rebar installation and formwork in preparation of the concrete pour for the lower foundation.

Installation of the fire road retaining wall.

The former helipad was demolished October 29 in just three hours, giving access to the full footprint of the new building and beginning work on the rest of the foundation.

The Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley project reached another major milestone with the official opening of the newly relocated helicopter landing site today.The site received approval for use following the final state permit inspection earlier this week by the CalTrans Division of Aeronautics.

On Wednesday, October 28, a small group of staff, Foundation trustees and donors, board members, and contractors gathered to commemorate the milestone with a Dedication Ceremony conducted by Eden Medical Center chaplain, Rev. Al Valencia. Overlooking the site from the top of the parking garage, the crowd cheered as the final blessing was made. Moments later, CalStar landed its newest medical helicopter to more cheers, and the Trauma Team assembled for training. For several hours, staff members and flight crews from CalStar and Reach Air Medical Services conducted training to ensure safe and efficient transport of patients from the new site to the Trauma Room.

The opening of the helipad less than 4 months after the groundbreaking is a remarkable feat by every member of the Project Team. But crews are wasting no time, beginning work immediately to remove the landing site, the last structure remaining in the footprint for the building project. Crews can now focus on work on the entire foundation of the new hospital.

We’ll have more news from the experts about the new site and the latest medical helicopters that are quieter, safer and better for the environment.

The upgrade of our Website is now complete, and we are back with more news and information with a renewed vigor. These past two months have seen a bit of a slowdown on our posts and social media program due to summer vacations and transitions here, but we are up and running again — and even more dedicated to making this site informative and useful to our staff, patients, neighbors, community and ever-growing network of friends.  If you haven’t yet taken the time to subscribe to our site, I encourage you to do so now. You will receive a notice only when new updates are provided, and we won’t inundate you with e-mails nor solicitations.

The Eden Campus has been alive with activity since we broke ground on July 1. Because of the tremendous progress, we have launched our “Photos of the Week” to complement the WebCam and give you a bit more detail on what the crews are working on.

Below are a few highlights:

Foundation Piers
The crews are continuing to drill and pour the foundation piers, the first phase of the new hospital’s foundation. What does it take for a hospital of this size? Crews will pour 570 piers altogether, some reaching 60 feet underground. They are moving at a rapid pace now, drilling and pouring 10 to 12 piers each work day. Once these are complete — although some work is done concurrently to prep the site — crews will begin work on the underground utilities such as electricity, sewer lines, storm drains and plumbing. They are also beginning installation of the grade beam rebar, and the photo below shows the site excavation and prep work for the rebar.

Temporary Pedestrian Bridge
While work is being done on the site, the current pedestrain bridge will need to shut down. To provide uninterrupted access from the parking garage to the hospital, the crews must build a temporary pedestrain bridge. One the land was excavated, crews placed the braces/beams and began the sheathing of the bridge.

Storm Drain and Fire Road
A new wall is almost complete on the north end of the site, and crews began work on the storm drain. A fire road is also under construction, and this past week the crews continued installation of the fire road retaining wall.

These are just a few highlights of the vast amount of work underway on site. We’ll have DPR Construction, the general contractor, provide more detail on the many phases of the construction.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you.