TONASKET – NAC Archtecture was awarded the bid for design of the next phase of North Valley Hospital’s basement construction project. Lead architect Michael O’Malley was on hand for the Board of Commissioners’ Thursday, May 31 meeting to give a brief talk on the next phase of the project.

O’Malley said that in the last three weeks he has walked through the hospital’s priorities and goals, as well as the design process.

“We also talked about some goals in terms of sustainability and lean design,” O’Malley said. “We’re going to do a formal three-P process, which is a very formal approach. Once we’ve completed some site visits we’ll spend a couple of days with all the stakeholders, and come out of that meeting with a plan.”

He added that they will run a day-long workshop to look at sustainability options that will lead to setting goals and parameters for the project.

“We’re excited,” O’Malley said. “I think this will be a good project for your community.”

Chief Information Officer Kelly Cariker said that the hospital has reconfigured its public wifi system.

“We had several complaints about our public wifi being password protected, so they needed staff to get them on,” Cariker said. “We completely moved that so it doesn’t touch our network … there is no password required now, so everybody seems to be happy with that.”

Jana Symonds, Patient Financial Services Director, reported that the online payment system has brought in over $130,000 worth of payments in the last seven months.

“These are not large payments,” she said. “They are all $100s, $50s, $25s. … It’s really picking up nicely as the community is becoming aware of it. It’s a good thing.”

The NVH Board of Commissioners next meets on Thursday, June 14.