ENFIELD, CT – A small crowd of about three dozen local officials, construction workers, hospital staff and administration stared up into the cold sky as a purple steel beam was added to the tallest structural point of the S. Prestley and Helen Blake Ambulatory Care Center on the Enfield campus of Johnson Memorial Hospital. The “topping off” beam had been inscribed with the signatures of those who had been a part of the project. Attached to beam was a small evergreen tree and an American flag, which was unfurled into the wind once the beam was secure.

Robert Roose, chief administrative officer for Mercy Medical Center, Johnson Memorial Hospital and their affiliates, said the topping off beam is a tradition in the construction industry. He explained that the evergreen tree was a representation of the construction “reaching the sky without loss of life or limb.”

For this particular project, Roose said the beam “signals the strength” of Johnson Memorial Hospital and its Enfield campus and the “growth of our community.”

The expansion of the Enfield campus is a more than $40 million project that was conceived in 2017. The project, built by Consigli Construction, broke ground in August 2022 and is slated for completion in May 2024, according to Enfield Mayor Robert Cressotti.

The campus, a satellite of the Johnson Memorial Hospital’s main campus in Stafford Springs, currently consists of four buildings, the Johnson Medical Office Building, the Nirenberg Medical Center and the Johnson Surgery Center and the Karen Davis Kryznowek Cancer Center, which is named for the daughter of Helen Blake and stepdaughter of S. Prestly Blake. The project will expand the cancer center, add a medical office building and replace the surgery center. There will be a total of “four state-of-the-art operating rooms, new and expanded lab services, primary care, 24 exam rooms and specialty suites,” Trinity Health said in a statement.

Michael Aaron, an orthopedic and hand surgeon told those gathered that he was “truly excited” to be able to give the same “state-of-the-art care” as one would receive in a hospital setting. The expansion of the cancer center will bring office visits and treatments, such as chemotherapy, under one roof Aaron said, creating an environment of “comprehensive, wrap-around care.”

“We are also grateful for the financial support we’ve received from Trinity Health and from elite donors like the late S. Prestley Blake and his wife Helen, who have supported the project since its inception,” Roose said. He read a statement from Helen Blake, who was unable to attend the ceremony in person but watched via FaceTime.

“We have long been inspired by the high level of care and compassion that can be found at Johnson Memorial Hospital and Trinity Health of New England,” Blake said. “My late husband Prestley and I have championed this project because of its importance to the local community, bringing vital clinical services close to home in a beautiful, new care setting. And, with his passing, it’s my honor to continue the philanthropic work that we started together.”

Cressotti said the ambulatory care center is the newest addition to “a great campus to serve the residents of Enfield, northern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. It’s a positive for our community, bringing in healthcare.” He praised the town’s partnership with Johnson Memorial Hospital and Trinity Healthcare.