Southern Ohio Medical Center announced Tuesday that as construction begins in front of the hospital's main campus, a temporary entrance will be placed where the gift shop is currently located.

As a result, the snack bar will close on Jan. 20 and the SOMC gift shop will move into the former Snack Bar area, said Craig Gilliland, director of Facilities Management at SOMC.

Jason Lovins, SOMC Community Relations, says groundbreaking on the new lobby will take place on Feb. 14 and is expected to take two years to complete.

The new facility will be a four-story patient care addition on the front of the building that will include a new entrance lobby, atrium and new snack bar area that will be opened once construction is complete, Lovins said.

This construction is part of a larger expansion program coming in 2007 that also will see the expansion of emergency and surgical services on the south side of the hospital.

Friends of SOMC Nearly New Shop, located at the corner of Kinneys Lane and Waller Street, also will be closing Feb. 1.

“At this time, we are no longer taking consignments at the Nearly New Shop. This has been a good fundraiser for the Friends over the years, but safety concerns and structural issues have caused us to revaluate this project and we feel our efforts would reap greater success with new ventures,” said Cindy Wray, director of Volunteer Services at SOMC.

Wray said that anyone who already has consignment items at the Nearly New Shop will be receiving a letter alerting them that they may pick up their items before Feb. 1.

“We want to ensure that those participating in the consignment program have ample time to retrieve their items. Once the deadline has passed, we will take the opportunity to give back to the community by donating the remaining items to nonprofit organizations that will use the clothing to help those in need,” Wray said.

The Uniform Shop, located on Kinneys Lane, also will close its doors, and an online service, for SOMC employees only, will open in its place.

“The inventory is going to be transferred to the east campus for an inventory clearance sale for the employees through March, and then in April they'll open this online uniform store where employees will be able to log into our internal network and look at the stock and shop online,” Lovins said.

Both buildings on Kinneys Lane and Waller Street will be razed in the fall of 2007, and all volunteers in these locations will be relocated within in the Volunteer Services Department, Wray said.

“Just please bear with us during this challenging construction period which is necessary in order to bring these important, life-saving new services, including open-heart and expanded heart vascular services,” Lovins said.

RYAN SCOTT OTTNEY can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 235.