2 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | OCTOBER 18, 2021
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The Bliss Expansion building on Hartford Hospital's campus.
Chief Manufacturing Officer Colin Cooper speaks at a Central
Connecticut Chambers of Commerce event in Farmington.
Hartford Hospital ready to debut $70M Bliss Expansion
building
H
artford HealthCare has
announced its four-story Bliss
Expansion building will open
for business in a phased-in approach
at Hartford Hospital beginning Oct.
18.
Nearly two years after hospital
officials broke ground on the $70
million expansion project, a ribbon
cutting was held Sept. 29 with
occupancy taking place about three
weeks later.
The Bliss Expansion building
— located on the Hartford Hospital
campus at 71 Jefferson St. — will
feature 18 critical care beds and
five operating rooms. It expands the
hospital's intensive care unit by 20%,
MRI and diagnostic capabilities by
25% and operating room capacity by
10%.
Hospital officials said the
50,000-square-foot addition is
intended to make health care more
affordable.
Funds for the expansion were
made via private donations and
construction was done during the
pandemic.
The new building — which is five
stories tall — is located adjacent to
the Cheney and Crane buildings.
The Bliss Expansion building will
employ 250 people to start; Hartford
Hospital employs 7,000 people in
total.
PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED
HBJ FILE PHOTO
CT chief manufacturing officer
says workforce, emerging
industries are priorities
The state's priorities for
Connecticut's manufacturing industry
include changing perceptions about
working in the sector and advising
companies on technology adoption
and supporting emerging industries.
Chief Manufacturing Officer Colin
Cooper said during a recent event
in Farmington hosted by the Central
Connecticut Chambers of Commerce
that workforce development remains
a key issue in the industry, which
currently employs about 152,800
people in the state.
COVID-19 exacerbated the long-
running issue of open manufacturing
jobs going unfilled as fewer young
people enter the industry and older
workers retire, with manufacturers
shedding about 12,700 jobs in March
and April 2020, and recovering just
36% of the workforce since that
time. In addition to ongoing training
initiatives at the community college
level, state officials are working on an
advertising campaign to draw more
young people into the industry.
"If you go to a manufacturing facility
today it's like an operating room,
but people's perception is sort of a
Dickens' novel with flames licking the
ceiling and smoke belching out," said
Cooper, who added the ad campaign
will focus on career opportunities in
the industry.
Another priority, Cooper said, is
getting Connecticut manufacturers to
adopt the industry's latest technology
and make products for innovative
companies and growth industries.
To that end, the state plans
to serve as a go-between for
businesses and manufacturers, so
that non-manufacturing companies
in Connecticut have their products
made in-state.
"We're looking at a match-making
initiative where we're matching our
innovators with our manufacturers,"
Cooper said. "If somebody's
innovating in Connecticut, we want
to make sure we're making it in
Connecticut."
Beyond that, Cooper said
Connecticut manufacturers could
see great opportunities for supplying
emerging industries like electric
vehicles and offshore wind energy.
