From: Ronnie Smith, Vice Chancellor, Administration and Finance
Subject:  Hurricane Katrina Recovery – Update #9
Posted January 27, 2006

BACK TO THE CITY! The recovery efforts of the LSU Health Sciences Center – New Orleans reached a significant milestone on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 with the re-opening of the Mervin L. Trail Clinical Sciences Research Building (CSRB). Researchers and graduate students returned to the upper floors of the CSRB and began to re-start their research and resume classes.

The remaining repairs to critical building systems (fire alarm system, fire pumps, and the electrical system) are nearing completion. Repairs to the building elevators continue. The contractor has committed to bringing in a dedicated out of state team devoted exclusively to LSUHSC to expedite completion of this process.

Excellent progress continues to be made on the work to provide similar access to the two other downtown campus research buildings; the MEB and the Lion’s Eye Center. The environmental remediation contract for these buildings has recently been issued and work should begin shortly. The contract requires completion within 30 days of the start of work and contains penalties for a failure to perform. We are optimistic that this critical body of work will be completed quickly.

Here are highlights of work that has been accomplished since our last update was posted on Friday, January 13th.

• The contract for the environmental remediation of the 1^st floors of the CSRB, the MEB and Lion’s Eye Center has been issued. Work on the buildings is expected to begin in the near future.
• The Office of Facility Planning & Control has also requested that the architect for the downtown campus project complete their design work and prepare bid documents for environmental remediation of the other downtown campus buildings. We are hopeful that the specifications will be prepared by the end of January. The architect has been authorized to use an expedited process to select a contractor to do this work.
  • Baseline monitoring (used to develop the remediation specifications) has been done at the Residence Hall, Nursing/Allied Health, Stanislaus Hall, and the Resource Center. Baseline monitoring will be completed in the other buildings in the near future.
• Repair parts for elevators around campus continue to arrive and the permanent repairs to individual elevators continue. Two of the passenger elevators at the Resource Center have passed inspection by the State Elevator Inspector and are now available for general use. Two of the major elevator contractors have agreed to bring in additional manpower from out of state to dedicate to completing repairs at the Health Sciences Center. The elevator contractors continue their work at:
  • CSRB
  • MEB
  • Lion’s Eye Center
  • Nursing/Allied Health
  • Resource Center
  • Stanislaus Hall
  • Residence Hall
  • Entergy/Gravier St. Garage

• The contractor responsible for cleaning the restrooms and public areas on the upper portions of the Dental School Administration and Clinic Buildings has been working to complete the cleaning. All of the spaces have had an initial cleaning and follow up inspections are underway. Touch up cleaning is being performed as needed.
• The emergency removal and disposal of carpet and other porous & semi-porous materials from basements & 1st floors of the flooded campus buildings is well underway. Work has been completed at the following buildings:
  • Nursing/Allied Health
  • Lion’s Eye Center
  • Resource Center
  • CSRB
  • MEB
  • Stanislaus Hall
  • Dental School; 1^st floors of the Administration and Clinic Buildings

• 1542 Tulane Ave. (minor work remains)
• Dental School basement (substantial progress has been made)

• Work has been completed on the repair/rebuilding of domestic water pumps in the Resource Center, Residence Hall, and MEB.
• Work continues on the contract to make permanent repairs to the switchgear in the Residence Hall, CSRB, Lion’s Eye Center, MEB and Nursing/Allied Health Buildings.
  • CSRB: Power has also been restored to the two main risers feeding the building. Both are holding loads. The repairs to the motor control center have been completed. The final transformer needed for the repairs has recently been delivered. The installation of the transformer should be completed soon.
  • MEB: The testing of four new main breakers was completed successfully. The building was powered down briefly on 1/26 to allow for replacement of the ground faults for the Emergency Light Panel and Fire Pump Panel. Power was restored to the building late in the afternoon.
  • Nursing/Allied Health: The main switchgear bus bars have been cleaned, returned to the site and installed. The main electrical fuse truck has been delivered and installed. The breaker for the building fire pump has been received and installed. Work continues on the remaining repairs.
  • Residence Hall: The emergency electrical riser panel has been installed. The cleaning of the main switchgear has been completed. Minor repairs and power interruptions in selected parts of the building are expected to occur in the near future.
• School of Dentistry restoration: Regular weekly meetings with representatives from the architectural/engineering firms, the Office of Facility Planning & Control, FEMA and LSUHSC have continued and will remain as a scheduled item for some time.
  • The architects/engineers responsible for the Dental School campus restoration presented a conceptual overview of an approach to address key building infrastructure issues. The approach begins to set forth both the immediate steps necessary to quickly reoccupy upper floors of the building and the longer term hazard mitigation possibilities. Small group follow up meetings are planned for early next week to refine LSUHSC's understanding of the recommendations. The conceptual hazard mitigation approaches will be presented to FEMA in the near future.
  • The initial focus for the project continues to be the rapid design and completion of emergency work necessary to allow the rapid re-occupation of upper floors of the Administration and Clinic buildings.
• Downtown campus restoration: Regular weekly meetings with representatives from the architectural/engineering firms, the Office of Facility Planning & Control, FEMA and LSUHSC have continued and will remain as a scheduled item for some time.
  • Significant efforts have been made recently to develop potential options for hazard mitigation. Discussions with FEMA about some of the concepts proposed are anticipated to occur within the next two weeks.
  • As noted previously, the architects are also working to complete the specifications for the environmental remediation of the remaining downtown campus buildings and to secure a contractor to complete that work.
• Contracts have been awarded for the repairs to various types of pumps to supply water and heat to the Residence Hall, MEB, CSRB, Lion’s Eye Center, Nursing/Allied Health, and Resource Center. Parts will be ordered and work is expected to begin on the repairs shortly. LSUHSC has provided the contractors with the list of priorities by building for these repairs; however the availability of some parts may impact on the ability to strictly adhere to the priorities.
• Work by the contractor responsible for the permanent replacement of fire pumps in the Nursing/Allied Health Bldg, the Residence Hall, the Resource Center, the CSRB, the Lion’s Eye Center and the MEB continues.
  • CSRB: The existing fire pump has been removed, the replacement has been installed and the new concrete pad has been poured. The fire pump control panel has also been installed.
  • MEB: New fire pumps for the building have been delivered.
  • Lion’s Eye Center: The existing fire pump has been removed and the new pump has been installed. The electrical connections to the pump motor are being completed. A new concrete pad must still be poured.
  • Nursing/Allied Health: The existing fire pump has been removed and the new pump has been installed. A new concrete pad must still be poured and electrical connections to the pump motor must be completed.
  • Resource Center: The existing fire pump has been removed and the new pump has been installed. The "jockey" pump (attached to the fire pump) has also been installed.
• Contracts to repair the fire alarm systems and their components in downtown campus buildings have been awarded to the vendors who currently provide annual maintenance to the systems. This approach will insure that the systems can be re-certified and remain under the existing maintenance contract. Work continues at this time.
  • Stanislaus Hall: The repairs to the system have been completed and the inspection by the State Fire Marshal has been performed. A final report is expected to be provided shortly.
  • CSRB: The repairs to the fire alarm system have been completed and the system has been tested. The State Fire Marshal has inspected the repaired fire alarm panel and his report will be forthcoming.
  • MEB: The contractor continues working on repairs to the fire alarm system at the MEB.
  • Lion’s Eye Center: In selected buildings where repairs are relatively simple, the work will be completed by LSUHSC Facilities staff and the system(s) re-certified by the current system maintenance contractor. Parts are on order and as parts arrive repairs are underway.
• A contract has been issued for the repairs to Animal Care cage washers, bottle washers and sterilizers at the CSRB. The work on the repairs continues. Repairs to the small sterilizer have recently been completed.
• Bids for the repairs to the emergency generators at the CSRB, MEB, Lion’s Eye Center, Nursing/Allied Health Bldg., Resource Center and the Residence Hall have been received and evaluated. The award recommendation has been forwarded to the Office of Facility Planning & Control, the Office of Risk Management and FEMA for their concurrence.
• A bid has been issued for repairs to the medical air compressors, vacuum pumps and water purifiers at the CSRB, Lion’s Eye Center and the MEB. Bids were received on 1/13/06 and have been evaluated. The award recommendation has been forwarded to the Office of Facility Planning & Control, the Office of Risk Management and FEMA for their concurrence.

We hope that you continue to find this information helpful. Don’t forget that Daily Updates are also posted on the web site so that you can follow the recovery progress more closely.