A view of the work on Vision Northland (June 23, 2021)

600,000 man hours in, and the Vision Northland project is really starting to take shape. Construction on Essentia’s new hospital is on schedule.

Dr. Robert Erickson, physician lead on Vision Northland, said it’s been amazing to be able to focus on this, instead of the pandemic.

“It’s taking form. And the staff can envision themselves working in this space. The groups are working on ways to make things more efficient once we’re in this space. It’s really coming to life,” he said.

About 400 people are clocking in each day, to make it a reality. And during a global pandemic, they’ve had very minimal problems.

“Through COVID we’ve only lost one day due to COVID protocols. The job site is very safe. And it’s very impressive how McGough and Essentia teams have worked together to manage this construction site,” explained Dan Cebelinski, Project Services Director for Essentia and Vision Northland.

There will be up to 600 people working later this summer.

One of the lead project managers, Phil Johnson, told us that workforce shortages have not been a problem for them. “Earlier in my career, everyone wanted to work on the Vikings stadium. And now, everyone wants to work on this. It’s pretty incredible, and surreal, to be a local guy and be on this project.”

Speaking of the stadium, a similar amount of steel is needed for this project.

The plan is to be open for patients in a little over 2 years from now, in third quarter of 2023.

For more info: https://www.essentiahealth.org/vision-northland/