The Connecticut laboratory that tests for infectious diseases, trains health care workers and screens newborns is on pace to move into its new $76 million digs in Rocky Hill by March 2012, allowing for better, more efficient lab work.
The new Connecticut Department of Public Health laboratory will replace the 44-year-old facility in downtown Hartford, a building with an older design and equipment that caused problems with air flow, cooling and modern testing.
“For the state of Connecticut as a whole and the public health, (the lab) is important when dealing with new and emerging infectious diseases,” said Dr. Jack Ross, the director of infectious diseases at Hartford Hospital. “It is a great resource for all of us in the public health community.”
It also holds promise for better and faster service for veterinarians and in investigating food-supply and environmental contamination cases.
The initial plans for the new public health laboratory began six years ago and surged forward in April when the State Bond Commission approved the $70 million in funding for the new site in Rocky Hill. The foundation has been laid, and erection of the new structure will begin by the end of this year, with completion in December 2011. The Department of Public Health plans to move its people in by March 2012.
The new facility in Rocky Hill is smaller than the Hartford lab — 106,000 sq. ft. compared to 110,000 sq. ft. — but with more open space and room for modern equipment gives the department flexibility for testing and other applications. In the current facility, the elevator is too small to fit in large-scale equipment and the building isn’t certified for equipment above a certain weight.
“The size isn’t increasing, but the flexibility is very much, much improved,” said Gregg Herriford, section chief for the public health department.
One of the key functions of the public lab is to do the initial screening and testing for new diseases. With the H1N1 flu strain, for example, the Centers for Disease Control develops the testing for the disease and sends the testing procedure to the state public labs, who then educate the individual hospitals and health care providers on the testing.
The Connecticut state lab acts as a consultant to all 31 hospitals in the state, working as a reference point for test results and helping with some of the more unusual samples when testing for diseases. The state lab offers a variety of training to health care workers around Connecticut, and the new building offers bigger classrooms.
The trend in the health care community now is toward more molecular, instrument-intensive testing for disease, and the Rocky Hill facility enables that much better, said Dr. John Fontana, the director of the state lab. With a more open facility — as opposed to the current facility with its several small, closed-off rooms — the department can put complementary programs and equipment next to each other.
A major feature of the new facility is a modern heating, air conditioning and ventilation system, a system that is lacking in Hartford. Right now, lab workers have a difficult time keeping samples at the proper temperature, Herriford said.
In addition to testing diseases and acting as a reference point for health care providers, the state lab screens newborns for problematic genetic markers; monitors drinking water; helps veterinarians check animals for rabies; monitors the food supply; tracks down the product culprits in food-borne outbreaks; and works with the Department of Environmental Protection when determining environmental contamination.
“The increased capacity we are going to have will make us more competitive for federal funding,” said Elise Kremer, the department’s public health administrator.
The new laboratory hit some controversy earlier this year when the State Bond Commission originally held off on awarding funding to the facility as there were concerns from legislators and the public about potential hazardous materials and diseases being tested at the facility. Those concerns were alleviated as the state public health officials showed their efforts to keep the public informed of the process and talked about the safety record in the more densely populated Hartford.
The controversy didn’t delay the timeline for the new lab, a three-story facility adjacent to Dinosaur State Park. The laboratory workers are on time to move in come March 2012.
“I can’t envision anything that could forestall the project at this point, but, as I say, ‘Knock on wood,’” Herriford said.
