Kishwaukee Community Hospital soon will begin construction on a new $205,000 addition to house a state-of-the-art X-ray machine.

Bill Smith, a Kishwaukee Community Hospital administrator, said Jim Ward Construction Co., the firm which won the bid to construct the expansion, has staked the area to prepare the site and is in the process of ordering materials.

The addition will be located adjacent to the hospital’s Radiology Department. Completion is targeted for 140 days after construction begins, according to the company’s bid.

The new two-floor, 800 square-foot addition will provide doctors with more of a central location for use of the Computerized Tomography scanner X-ray machine and will offer more access to patients, Smith said.

He said the new machine has many pieces and occupies about 900 square feet.

Paul Andresen, the hospital’s radiology department manager, said the new CT scanner will replace an older model the hospital had for five years.

CT scanners are X-ray machines that take axial shots of organ parts for viewing.

“It (the new CT scanner) is improved in both the software and the hardware. It should be able to take clearer pictures, and it should be faster,” Andresen said.

The new CT scanner is under constructon and will cost about $700,000. Upon completion, it will be stored temporarily in a controlled-environment warehouse in Chicago until the new addition is completed.

The construction company will finish the second floor of the addition first so that the CT scanner can be moved in and used as soon as possible.

The first floor of the addition will be used for meetings and conferences.

Three other local firms will do subcontracting work for the hospital. Mascal Electric, Inc. will handle electricity, Kallal’s Sheet Metal, Inc. will do the air handling, and Wilmer Baker will take care of plumbing work.