Chase Patten

Chase Patten, a Senior double majoring in Real Estate and Building Construction, interned with Frank L. Blum Construction Company this past Summer!

"I worked for Frank L Blum construction company. They do a variety of construction projects all over North Carolina and parts of Virginia. I worked at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC. I was an intern so I basically just did whatever my bosses need. Some things I helped with are proposals for projects which include estimating and scheduling, reviewing submittals to be finalized, 360-degree video scanning, and some physical activities.

Baptist Medical Center is an interesting project because it is a full-on operating hospital and isn’t like what people would think of as “general” construction, such as residential and commercial. A lot of projects there are more renovations and there were about 15-18 small projects around the hospital campus, and one larger project.

Since it’s a full on working hospital there was a lot to consider for the patients and workers health and safety. For each project we set up these barriers and sticky mats at every entrance to prevent any dust from traveling into an area it shouldn’t be. We even had these air machines and air scrubbers that helped reduce the dust particles in the air and created a negative air pressure in the project site to keep air from blowing out into the working hospital areas. These things are very important for infection prevention because sometimes you’re working right next door to someone who is so ill the smallest amount of dust or even loud noise could bother them or even be fatal.

There is also a tremendous amount of planning that goes into each project since it has to go through so many people at the hospital. Overall, I learned so much from that internship."

After graduation, Chase will be working for Frank L. Blum!