With a facilities expansion project of the magnitude taking place at Grande Ronde Hospital, it stands to reason that making room for a 96,000 square-foot building on a campus landlocked on the side of a mountain; that at least some of that mountain will need to be removed.

Hampton Paving, LLC, was hired for the extensive excavation work needed and is just one of the local companies sub-contracted by GRH and Bouten Construction for the project.

Excavator extraordinaire Corey Gomes has worked for Hampton since 2009. His crew mates call him “dirt boss”, but watching Corey over the past several months, the word “artist” is what comes to mind.

Gomes has been hooked on moving dirt since he was six-years old, and as he grew up his sandbox just got bigger.

“My grandpa had an excavation business and that’s when I first got to run a backhoe,” he recalls.

Now, with a seven-year-old boy of his own who also likes to dig, Gomes still loves moving dirt. And he’s really, really good at it.

“The controls are really just extensions of my hands,” he says modestly.

Gomes’ precision, skill and speed are not the only components of his work ethic that have caught the attention of everyone working on the project.

In October, Gomes was honored by Bouten Construction with their S.C.O.R. award for his outstanding achievement in safety. S.C.O.R. stands for Safety, Culture, Observation and Recognition. The award explains that safety is not just a goal for the construction company, but an integral part of their culture. It is quite an honor to be given the S.C.O.R. award.

“Bouten is serious about safety – they have made it a cornerstone of their organization. To have them recognize Corey with this award says a lot about Corey,” says GRH Facilities Project Manager Joel Donivan. “Not only is he a hard worker and extremely good at what he does; he is careful – always aware of what is happening around him.”

To date, Donivan estimates the Hampton crew has moved more than 5,000 yards, approximately 500 truckloads, of material from campus. In one day alone, Joel says, Corey excavated an impressive 1,100 yards (approximately 100 truckloads) of material from our construction site. Most of that dirt has already been repurposed, but some is stored at one of the local business owners on Gekeler Lane who graciously had the room to do so. That earth will come back home to GRH as needed.

To find out more about the project, visit “Facilities Expansion” on the Grande Ronde Hospital and Clinics website.