The PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center serves the local community of Ketchikan, AK as well as the many tourists and visitors to the remote island of Revillagigedo in Southern Alaska. To meet growing demand, the city agreed to fund a $62 million project to add a new wing and improve treatment facilities. This entailed adding 70,000 square feet of space and installing over 2,000 items of new medical equipment. Despite a four-week construction delay, healthcare facility logistics specialists at CME were able to condense their installation schedule and ensure the hospital opened on time in June 2016.
Challenges
The project raised a number of challenges. These included:
- Access - Because the city is completely cut off from the mainland, the only vehicular access is by ferry.
- Vehicle Limits - Ferry space is at a premium so vehicular limits are applied.
- Roadways - The island is hilly with narrow roads.
- Warehousing facilities - Warehousing space on the island is very limited
- Construction delays - Construction work overran by four weeks and CME was asked to expedite installation and delivery of the equipment to overcome that delay.
CME had the responsibility to source and supply all of the medical equipment which entailed dealing with 62 manufacturers and coordinating the installation of over 2000 pieces of equipment.
Solutions
The PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center issued a single order to CME who then handled everything including procurement, inspection, warehousing, assembly, and staging and delivery.
Owing to insufficient warehousing in Ketchikan, CME needed to rent space in Seattle and to use barges to transport equipment to a smaller staging warehouse in Ketchikan.
Over 500 pallets were delivered, with barges running twice every week. Equipment was transported to the hospital using small trucks that were ferried to the island. All of this was accomplished utilizing turnkey logistics without causing disruption to medical staff and patients.
Download this infographic to see a visual presentation of how CME was able to overcome a logistical nightmare and save the customer over $3 million in potential lost revenue.
For information as to how we can meet your healthcare equipment procurement needs, call us at 800-338-2372 or contact us electronically.
About CME: CME Corp is the nation’s premier source for healthcare equipment, turnkey logistics, and biomedical services, representing 2 million+ products from more than 2,000 manufacturers.
With two corporate offices and 35+ service centers, our mission is to help healthcare facilities nationwide reduce the cost of the equipment they purchase, make their equipment specification, delivery, installation, and maintenance processes more efficient, and help them seamlessly launch, renovate and expand on schedule.
