| Posted August 1, 2014 | By Melonee Hurt | Categorized under WMC Happenings |

A group ranging from surgeons to nurses and county commissioners to Williamson Medical Center employees gathered early Friday morning to watch the final structural beam, covered with WMC employee signatures, get lowered into its final resting place in the framework of the Medical Center's new surgery expansion.

Michael McNamara, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon and WMC's chief of surgery, spoke to the group and said he thought it was fitting to have an orthopaedic surgeon speak at a topping-out ceremony.

"The building right now is only a skeleton," he said, referring to the steel frame rising behind him. "This is something us ortho guys might know a thing or two about. We all know we must have a strong frame to build on. I think what we are completing today will serve Williamson Medical Center well for a long time."

WATCH: Steel workers place the final beam into the framework of WMC's surgical expansion.

WMC broke ground late in 2013 on two additions to its campus: a surgery expansion and a dedicated children's wing and pediatric emergency department. The three-story surgical addition will modernize and expand existing surgery suites and add two new ones and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2015.

The final beam was available in the medical center's main lobby for several days and all employees, physicians and visitors were invited to sign it before it was placed into the structure. Signing the final beam of a building and ceremoniously placing it is a long-standing ritual among construction projects.

"Topping-out occurs when the last steel beam, or structural element, is set into place," said Russ Brown, assistant project manager with Skanska USA. "Once the beam is welded into place, a tree, typically a pine, is set on top of it. According to tradition, it began back around 700 A.D. in Scandinavia where the construction of new buildings were topped off with sheathes of grain as gift to the god Odin's horse. This supposedly provided good fortune and luck to the future tenants."

Williamson Medical Center CEO Donald Webb said Friday morning's event was a significant one in the life of the medical center.

"This surgical expansion is important to the life of Williamson Medical Center because it will allow our surgeons and nurses to continue to do cutting-edge procedures utilizing state-of-the-art technology, right here on our campus, solidifying the fact that you don't have to go anywhere else for top-notch surgical care," he said.

The final beam for the other tower going up on the WMC campus, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital Vanderbilt at Williamson Medical Center, will be on display at the Williamson County Fair from Aug. 1- Aug. 9 so that everyone from the area can sign it before it is placed into the frame of the children's building later in August. 

WATCH: The topping-out beam for the children's hospital is delivered to the Williamson County Fair.