Life and Health

With a facilities expansion project of the magnitude taking place at Grande Ronde Hospital (GRH), it stands to reason that, when making room for a 96,000-square-foot building on a campus that was located and landlocked on the side of a mountain in the 1960s, at least some of that mountain will need to be moved.
Hampton Paving, LLC, was hired for the extensive excavation work needed and is just one of the local companies subcontracted by GRH and Bouten Construction for the expansion project.

Dirt boss—and artist

Excavator extraordinaire Corey Gomes has worked for Hampton since 2009. His crew mates call him "dirt boss," but watching Gomes over the past several months, the word "artist" comes to mind.

Gomes has been hooked on moving dirt since he was 6 years old, and as he grew up, the sandbox just got bigger.

"My grandpa had an excavation business, and that's when I first got to run a backhoe," he recalls.
Now, with a 7-year-old boy of his own who also likes to dig, Gomes still loves moving dirt. And he's really, really good at it.

"The controls are really just extensions of my hands," he says modestly.

Gomes' precision, skill and speed are not the only components of his work ethic that have caught the attention of everyone working on the project.

In October, Gomes was honored by Bouten Construction with their S.C.O.R. award for his outstanding achievement in safety. S.C.O.R. stands for Safety, Culture, Observation and Recognition. The award explains that safety is not just a goal for the construction company, but an integral part of their culture.

"Bouten is serious about safety—they have made it a cornerstone of their organization. So to have them recognize Corey with this award is a real honor," says GRH Facilities Project Manager Joel Donivan. "Not only is he a hard worker and extremely good at what he does, Corey is careful and always watching out for what is happening around him."

That's a lot of dirt

To date, Donivan estimates Hampton has moved more than 5,000 yards—approximately 500 truckloads—of material from campus. In one day alone, Donivan says, Gomes removed an impressive 1,100 yards (approximately 100 truckloads) of material from our construction site. Most of that dirt has already been repurposed, but some is stored at one of the local business owners on Gekeler Lane who graciously agreed to store it. That earth will come back home to GRH as needed.

On the front side of the campus, along Sunset Drive where the new building will be anchored, there was more mountain for Gomes and his crew to move.

The two lowest, partial levels of the new east-facing building will be anchored into the hillside with steel pilings that were driven 66 feet into the ground. As Gomes removes one 12- to 15-foot layer at a time to the east in front of them, anchor ties and supports will be driven into place at each level, further securing the foundation for the structure built on top.

Categories: Expansion project