By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Thanks to a hefty federal grant, Rumford Hospital can resolve its air conditioning problems and return a rented system.

According to Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, the hospital was awarded $270,068 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington.

Hospital Chief Executive Officer John Welsh thanked the senators for their support late Thursday afternoon.

“We also appreciate the continuing support of U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud. This is the second grant that he has been influential in obtaining for Rumford Hospital,” Welsh said.

Hospital spokeswoman Jane Bubar said the hospital applied for the grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, a segment of the federal department.

The grant, she said, “will help us replace our main chiller and our operating room chiller. They were old and desperately needed replacing.”

Earlier this summer, one air conditioning unit failed, requiring use of a rented chiller since then, Bubar said.

The replacement work is to be done over the winter in preparation for next summer. Money left over would be put into other equipment upgrades, she added.

The hospital is currently nearing completion of a major renovation and building project to expand the emergency room department and construct a new lobby.

“We want to make the emergency room much more private for patients, and make it so nurses can observe every room,” Bubar said.

Until now, emergency room patients were put in rooms off a corridor.

Snowe and Collins also announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded a grant of $245,516 to the University of Southern Maine in Portland.

That funding is to be used to expand the university’s School of Nursing with a 50-seat computer classroom, and create new office and meeting space.