MOSES LAKE — While the start of construction has been delayed at least until next spring, Samaritan Healthcare officials are still working on plans and purchasing equipment for a new Samaritan hospital.

Samaritan commissioners approved the project in April 2019, and planning had reached the stage of preparing final construction documents when the project was delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Hospital commissioners voted in June to resume planning. At their Aug. 25 meeting, commissioners approved spending up to $4 million for new diagnostic imaging equipment.

Consultant Joe Kunkel said the current estimate for the new equipment is $3.6 million to $3.9 million. It might seem a little early to start buying equipment, Kunkel said, but architects need to know what equipment will be installed, and where it will be installed, to work on the design.

Director of imaging Joe Larson said hospital district officials will buy a new CT scanner, new ultrasound and new echocardiography equipment, among other things. The MRI machine purchased last year will go to the new hospital.

The plan is to purchase all equipment from one vendor, Kunkel said, which should save money.

Chief Executive Officer Theresa Sullivan reported that hospital and Grant County officials met to work out plans for a morgue in the new hospital. The current county morgue is at Samaritan, but a new morgue was not included in the original hospital design.

Architects working on the hospital project have come up with a tentative design for the morgue. The estimated cost is $4.1 million to $4.2 million, which would be paid by Grant County.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].