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72 • JUNE 2011 • WORLD FENCE NEWS Walking by the construction fence surrounding the expansion of OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peo- ria, Illinois, passersby would never guess the number of unusual circum- stances that led to its erection. First, there’s the hospital expan- sion’s back story, which begins on a farm in Illinois. Adolescent Rebecca DiSomma was riding an ATV when it hit a pothole and flipped, with all the force of the vehicle landing on the 8- year-old girl. Her family moved the ATV off of her with a tractor and took Rebecca to a nearby hospital. From there, she was airlifted to the children’s hospital at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center where doctors repaired Rebecca’s frac- tured spine, lacerated kidney, broken High-tech hospital fence site calls for careful excavation BY KELLY MOORE ribs and damaged spleen, ultimately saving her life. In honor of their success and the friendship Rebecca’s father, Bill DiS- omma, created with one of her doctors, DiSomma’s firm, Jump Trading, do- nated $25 million to St. Francis hospi- tal and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. The donation – the largest ever given to the hospital – is funding de- velopment of the Jump Trading Simu- lation and Conference Education Center. The center’s simulation labo- ratory will allow medical students to mimic complicated surgeries and other procedures using high-tech man- nequins and virtual-reality simulators. Attempts to cordon off the lay- down site of the expansion were un- successful due to wind – and not just any wind. Gusts from the hospital’s air ambulance dismantled the fence’s pan- els nearly every time it landed; the down-draft proving too forceful for the temporary barrier. “Our guys were going to the site every couple days to put the panels back up,” said Jim Schmidt, president of Hohulin Fence, a Goodfield, Illinois commercial fence contractor. The company, which claims to be SETTING THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE the first of its kind to commercially manufacture chain link fence fabric in the United States, was founded in 1897. Concerned with the feasibility of DISTINCTION Creating a distinctive competitive advantage for AFA contractors EDUCATION Developing training, certification and accreditation programs OPPORTUNITY Delivering industry insights, analysis and information PROFESSIONALISM Encouraging professional development and leadership Join AFA today and play a part in setting the standard of excellence for the fence, deck and railing industry. the existing fence, the project’s general contractor asked Hohulin for a better solution. Because the expansion proj- ect is expected to take at least two years, Hohulin began researching a semi-permanent barrier. They settled on 6-foot high, screen-sided fence set on 8-foot centers. Working on the hospital project required Hohulin and all subcontrac- tors to adhere to strict safety rules, one of which mandated that any holes drilled within 30 feet of a known util- ity to be vacuum excavated. The new, 1,400-lineal-foot fence required 180 3-foot deep holes on ground saturated with fiber optic, water, gas and electrical lines. A mis- take with regard to power was unac- ceptable to hospital leadership who were naturally cautious of any kind of service interruption. To determine which of the 180 postholes had to be vacuum excavated, Schmidt and his crew worked with Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators (JUILE), Illinois’ utilities locating entity, devising a formal plan for the location of each hole and backup utilities. According to Schmidt, nearly every posthole fell within 30 feet of the site’s utilities infrastructure. While Hohulin had previously worked on projects which required vacuum excavation, they had not per- formed the process themselves. continued on page 74 Rotor b l copter at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in P do ast fr e an e wn the temporar ve and belo while construction pr om the air amb oria, so a more durab x tensive e n w u ca Illinois kept b nce surr y f shomber of critical under present at the dig x le f n abo v ation tec pansion of the facility special e nce was required u lance heli- l e e o ounding w ing , hniques were required. g oceeded, r g w . Due to the ing site , ound utilities as x -