Oak Hill Hospital has begun construction of its $50 million operating room and bed tower expansion. It’s the largest health care expansion project of its kind in Hernando County history, a statement from the hospital said. Construction is expected to take 22 months, with completion scheduled for fall 2013.

Gould Turner Group Inc. in Nashville, Tenn., is the project’s architect, and Bradfield & Gorrie LLC in Nashville is general contractor. Littlejohn Engineering Associates is the engineering contractor, LC Thomasson Associates is the electrical contractor of record and Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates Ltd. is structural engineer.

The expansion includes a two-story inpatient bed tower with 36 private rooms, eight additional operating rooms, renovation of the endoscopy suites, replacement and expansion of the post-anesthesia care unit to 18 beds and renovation and expansion of the central sterile department. The power plant will be expanded and a new parking lot built for patients, guests and families.

Sims Crane & Equipment, working with Tri City Gas, had two cranes on site last week to place the new oxygen tanks that supply the oxygen for the hospital.  CCO Jason Taylor and CCO Joel Rentas worked as a team to remove the old tanks and safely place the new ones.

A report from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council said the expansion would create an additional 71 permanent employees, and an additional 50 jobs outside the hospital. The combined jobs will generate an average of $5.4 million in personal income annually and contribute nearly $6.8 million to the gross county product each year, the hospital said.