In January 2003, Florida Hospital determined that corrective action was required to prevent the failure of the main surgery air conditioning system at Winter Park Memorial Hospital. The existing system had failed twice in previous months and presented a significant concern to Florida Hospital in terms of patient safety and economic loss. The existing air handling unit was installed in 1998 and the unit had become maintenance intensive, and also posed a potential contamination risk. This air handling unit served 10 operating rooms and a recovery room.

As a result of an intensive investigation by Peninsula Engineering, it was decided to pursue a direct replacement approach of the existing air handler system, with a minimum of down time for the surgery area. Scheduling, and minimum down time were of paramount importance. Work was required to be done day and night with multiple shifts. The work to replace the air handler and reactivate the system had to occur during Memorial Day Weekend 2003, including Test and Balance, City of Winter Park inspections, and AHCA inspection. Mechanical Services of Central Florida, Inc, was awarded the contract as the primary contractor with McCree Construction acting as secondary contractor. Sunrise Electric performed all the electrical work needed.

A key factor during this project was that during the duration of the project, four other adjacent operating rooms had to be kept open at full operation. This task would be hard to achieve, but was done. If the level of difficulty was given a scale of 1 to 10, and 10 being the most difficult, we would give this project a definite 10.

Florida Hospital was extremely proud of the results of this fast track project. All of the requisites prescribed were accomplished in a 24/5 schedule. The selection of engineer, contractor, subcontractor and key team members of the hospital played the most prominent role in guaranteeing that the project start and finish as scheduled. The team effort proved invaluable as, not only did we fulfill our goals, but also had limited down time for our surgery department. This project surely gave new meaning to the term "fast track".

The relationship developed between MSI and Florida Hospital is one which does not come very often between owner and contractor. MSI performed a remarkable job during their short stay at Florida Hospital. We would be honored to have MSI work on any of our systems at any one of our seven campuses. This was a job you could be proud of!"

Sincerely,

~ Florida Hospital