Nearly a year after Hurricane Ike swept through Galveston, the University of Texas Medical Branch is preparing to undertake a $1.4 billion reconstruction project to repair the damages.
Clinical facilities like the Jennie Sealy and John Sealy Hospitals will receive a substantial portion of the financial backing, totaling nearly $500 million to restore the buildings to working order.
UTMB spokeswoman Marsha Canright said funding came from the Texas Legislature, the UT System Board of Regents, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Sealy & Smith Foundation of Galveston. Each group invested between $200 million and $450 million toward the medical branch, she said.
“The large outpouring of support after Ike has been tremendous,” Canright said.
A smaller portion of the budget — approximately $2 million — was appropriated for non-clinical buildings such as the Mary Moody Northern Pavilion, the Marvin Graves Building, the Child Care Center and several fraternity houses, said Richard Merz Jr., senior manager with Redding Linden Burr Consulting Engineers. UTMB hopes the non-clinical buildings will be completed by June 1, 2010.
The rebuilding project is also an opportunity to take measures to protect UTMB’s campus against future storm damage. All major equipment, laboratories and facilities will be positioned at levels above the potential access of floodwaters. The electrical and plumbing systems will start from the second floor and be rerouted back down to the first floor, Merz said.
“This will be no easy task because many of the as-built construction documents of the original campus buildings were ruined by the flood,” he said.
Although these valuable archives were damaged or lost, engineers and designers are piecing together what they can find in an effort to move forward in construction, Merz said.
UTMB officials confirmed that the measures taken to repair the branch will be a multi-faceted approach to not only repair and prevent damages caused by the storms but also improve on its existing standards.
Canright said even before the hurricane, the campus was very damaged and struggling to take care of all the people who needed health care.
“The students and faculty members of this facility are motivated by community service and the care of individuals,” she said. “Now is really the opportunity to claim its mission of health care and push medical research and education forward, all in the effort to caring for the people of Texas.”
