Posted on 07/26/2008 12:45:29 PM PDT by SandRat
BASRAH — “I feel blessed to be working on this important project,” said Ryan Hartwig, construction representative with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Basrah Children’s Hospital Office
“Each time we go, we see more progress. I can look at the place now and actually visualize patients using this facility,” he continued. “It’s just very satisfying being part of this effort that will no doubt save or change the lives of so many Iraqi children.”
Several key partners are involved in the project including Project Hope (a non-government organization), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, explained Hartwig.
The overall price tag for the project now stands at $163.8 million. This total encompasses more than U.S. funds. It includes the $22 million grant from Spain being administered by the UNDP, $30 million from Project HOPE for high end medical equipment and hospital staff training, and $9.8 million from the Iraqi Ministry of Health (MoH) for consumables. The MoH is also providing permanent electrical power, a wastewater treatment plant, and all the staff to operate the facility.
The hospital is designed to reduce child mortality by half within five years of its opening in southern Iraq – “a goal that will affect over one million children,” Hartwig said. The hospital will primarily be a referral center with a special focus on pediatric cancer, providing state-of-the-art specialty services never before available in Iraq.
Components of the project includes a 160,000 sq. ft. two-story, 94-bed children’s hospital building, mechanical and electrical plants, a 38-bed dormitory, medical waste treatment system, oxygen generation plant, warehouse, back-up generators, roads/parking and landscaping.
“We’re truly doing good things over here and changing people’s lives,” Hartwig said. “What you don’t see on TV are the positive projects we’re completing and turning over to the Iraqi government -- new water treatment facilities, road paving, sewer lines, primary healthcare centers, substations, and schools,” he added.
A native of Le Center, Minn., Hartwig had been working as a natural resources manager at USACE’s Savannah District prior to his deployment to Iraq. “I couldn’t have made a better decision. It has been a life-changing experience. I feel like I have grown leaps and bounds personally, professionally and even spiritually,” he said.
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