Reston Hospital Center is just under the halfway point of its $72 million expansion — on track and on budget for completion by the end of next year.

The completed pieces of the project include renovations of the Women and Children’s Services unit and expansion of the neonatal intensive care unit, along with new paint, flooring and upgraded equipment, Erin Echelmeyer, a hospital spokeswoman, told Reston Now. The West Wing Lobby is also finished, with a revamped lobby area, gift shop, physicians’ lounge and office space, she said.

“It is progressing right along,” Echelmeyer said. “We are on target to complete this second phase of our master facility plan by the end of 2019.”

A breakdown of the pieces of the project still in progress is below:

• New 18-bed Inpatient Rehabilitation Center
• Expanded 24-bed Intensive Care Unit
• Addition of a second lab to the cardiac services unit
• Renovations to visitor areas including a new cafeteria, a glass concourse, and main entrance and lobby
• New parking garage for patients and visitors on the West Wing entrance
• Addition of eight rooms to accommodate high-risk obstetric patients

Construction on a new 403-space parking garage has already begun, which is expected to be done by the end of next summer. The Inpatient Rehabilitation Center is slated to open next month, followed by the Intensive Care Unit in January, Echelmeyer said.

The hospital reopened the emergency room entrance, after having patients enter through the hospital’s main entrance, she said, adding that the emergency room, level II trauma center and pediatric emergency room “are all fully function[al] and accessible from the emergency room entrance.”

This is not the first time the 187-bed hospital, which is part of Tennessee-based health giant HCA Holdings, Inc, has expanded. The hospital embarked on a $40 million expansion between 2012 and 2015, which included a 180,00-square-foot medical office and the addition of four operating rooms and 19 surgical recovery rooms in the surgical department.

The current expansion was announced in 2016, when the hospital hit its 30th anniversary. The phased project will add more than 63,000 square feet of new space to the facility.

Photos Courtesy of HCA Healthcare

Reston Association is set this week to hold a vote and the second public hearing on next year’s budget.

This upcoming meeting will focus on approving the second year of the 2018-2019 budget at the public meeting tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30 p.m. at RA’s headquarters (12001 Sunrise Valley Drive) after the first year of the budget was approved last year.

Larry Butler, RA’s acting CEO, presented his recommendations for the budget at a public hearing last Thursday (Nov. 8). RA board and staff created three drafts of the budget, using 2018 as a baseline.

During the budget process, the RA board directed the association’s staff to increase employee health insurance contributions and to reduce expenses by passing credit card convenience fees along to the cardholder. The association trimmed roughly $300,000 from the initial budget estimates from an earlier draft, according to a Nov. 1 press release.

“This year’s budget was shaped primarily through a wide range of cuts in operating expenses,” the press release said.

If approved, the proposed budget would increase members’ assessment fee by $11, setting the rate at $693. The first draft would have set the annual fee, which helps the association maintain pathways, facilities and recreational areas, at just over $700. Last year’s totaled $682.

The board is also requesting $40,000 from cash reserves to reinstate staff training and $17,545 for staff recruitment and “market rate adjustments for difficult to fill positions,” according to meeting materials to be presented to the board.

After the new assessment is set by the board, RA will mail assessment packets to residents with information about the fees and funding. The payment will be due Jan. 1.

The draft agenda for the meeting is available online.

Photo via Reston Association/Reston Today

The discovery of a body on the 1500 block of Browns Chapel Road remains under investigation.

The Fairfax County Police Department has not released any additional details about the incident. The body was found the morning of Nov. 2. No information about the nature of the investigation was available as of today (Tuesday).

Major crime incidents were minimal this week, but FCPD did report the following incidents in recent days:

LARCENIES:

11200 block of Chestnut Grove Square, cash from location

12100 block of Sunset Hills Road, watch from residence

1900 block of Reston Metro Plaza, electronic devices from location

STOLEN VEHICLES:

None reported

As we reported last week, four men were arrested after a high-speed police pursuit Wednesday night.

Photo via FCPD