photo by: Caroline Trowbridge/LMH Health Photo

Workers took advantage of a break in wintry weather on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, to make progress on an addition to the Surgical Department at LMH Health that will house the hospital’s Sterile Processing Department. The work has temporarily eliminated some patient parking, so the hospital is providing free valet service at its Maine Street entrance.

Construction on the LMH Health Maine Street campus means some patient parking temporarily has been eliminated.

To accommodate for that, hospital officials encourage patients to take advantage of valet parking, which is available at both the Maine Street and Arkansas Street entrances to the hospital. Valet parking is available for free:

• At the Maine Street entrance, which is north of the emergency entrance: 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

• On Arkansas Street in the circle drive at the fountain: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

Construction activity now is visible at the northeast corner of the hospital, where crews are building an addition to the Surgical Department to create a new home for the hospital’s Sterile Processing Department, which currently is on the lower level of LMH Health. This 6,700-square-foot addition will more than double space for sterile processing of equipment. The work should be completed in about nine months, depending on weather.

The valets are parking patients’ vehicles on the east side of LMH in a lot at the northeast corner of Third and Maine streets that was an employee lot before construction began. So LMH Health has secured additional parking for students, contractors, vendors and staff at the Lawrence public schools parking lot, 110 McDonald Drive. A shuttle is transporting people between the parking lot and LMH Health.

Two other projects also are affecting employee parking at the hospital:

• Renovation of the interior of former dental offices at 316 Maine St. into new homes for the Marketing and Communications Department and the LMH Health Foundation. Both currently are in Suite 201 of Lawrence Health Plaza. This project is forecast to be complete in April.

• Replacement of the roof on Lawrence Health Plaza. Access to doors on the east and south sides of that building will be limited to emergencies. The presence of equipment will limit parking on Missouri Street, which dead-ends into the south side of LMH. This project will take about two months, depending on weather.

— Caroline Trowbridge is marketing communications manager for LMH Health, which is a major sponsor of Lawrence Journal-World’s health section. She can be reached at caroline.trowbridge@lmh.org.