Standards are high and tolerances tight when you're building a heart lab.

Catheterization Lab - Idaho Heart Institute, Idaho Falls

Paul Wilhelm, general manager with Nampa-based general contractor Benchmark Construction, said equipment inside Idaho Heart Institute — believed to be the state's first stand-alone cardiac catheterization lab not within a hospital — was worth more than the $1.95 million it cost for site work and building construction. Laser leveling equipment, he said, helped make it easier to meet the exacting standards of Idaho Heart Institute, which opened in Idaho Falls in January.

"But there were a lot of things involved in that one (medical procedure) area," Wilhelm said.  For example, the sophistication and tight tolerances of equipment in the procedure room, and the delicate nature of the medical procedures themselves, meant there were strict requirements for placing HVAC headings and footings.  "There all kinds of equipment tolerances involved, even in the temperature of the air," said Wilhelm.

The lab had to meet state Department of Health and Welfare accreditation standards, which required that the lab have "occupancy separation" from the remainder of the building.  Lead-lined walls contained radiation within the procedure room.  The lab also needed a specialized HVAC system, with alarms that sound when temperatures deviate to a certain range, and an emergency generator.  Key in the lab is a computer-controlled arm, mounted from the ceiling.

Idaho Heart Institute - Idaho Falls, Idaho

Valmarie Price, project manager with Benchmark, said the procedure room's ceiling-beam structure needed to carry the weight of the arm, which could not deflect within a tenth of a inch in any axis.  "So, we had two giant beams that went across the ceiling, and they were braced off.  They couldn't move or deflect for any reason" including vibration from rooftop equipment, she said.

Benchmark used a design-build team approach with various building design and engineering specialists in constructing the building for physicians Robert Cameron and John Chambers.  Olson and Associates Architects, and engineering firms Mountain River, Inc. and Stapley Engineering also worked on the building.

Idaho Heart Institute is "trying not to have the big overhead of a hospital and still be able to provide cost-efficient diagnostics to patients, "Price said.  The building, for which a square-footage estimate was not available, houses advanced diagnostic services for heart patients on an outpatient basis. The cardiac catheterization lab, and recovery rooms and support areas, took approximately half the main floor of the building.  The building also has areas for treadmill testing, a nuclear scan and echocardiogram, a testing lab, exam rooms and offices.  It has employee locker and break rooms, and space for a future cardiac rehab center.

"While meeting the owner's schedule for occupancy was important, so was job-site safety,"" said Price, noting Benchmark "took every measure to enforce safety policies in cooperation with OSHA requirements."  She added: "With this level of coordination between owners, the contractor and subcontractors, no time was lost and we completed a successful project..."