Baseball, Soccer Field, Six-Hole Putting Green And World’s First Full-Service Outdoor Nurses’ Station
Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital, the only specialty extended-stay pediatric rehabilitation hospital in Missouri, has added an innovative new dimension to its recently completed three-story, 75,000-sq.-ft. expansion. Consistent with the hospital’s commitment to providing the most advanced and exceptional medical care while inspiring fun, hope, creativity and most of all, childhood, it created an exceptional ADA-compliant outdoor recreation area.
The outdoor area is designed not only to be enjoyed even by kids with the most severe and complicated medical conditions, but also to ensure their medical needs will continue to be met with a fully-equipped outdoor nurses’ station – the first-of-its-kind for any hospital in the world.
The outdoor area was constructed by McCarthy Building Companies, a national company based in St. Louis, in collaboration with sister company Castle Contracting, a civil contracting firm also based in St. Louis. McCarthy also completed the 75,000-sq.-ft. hospital expansion in February 2018, as well as the original 62,000-sq.-ft. building in 2004. The expansion more than doubled the hospital’s patient and staff capacity.
Ball Field Features
- Donated by the Catch 22 Foundation, a non-profit established in 2003 by Mike and Kristin Matheny, the focal point is an adaptive and accessible 5,700-sq.-ft. synthetic grass ballfield with four bases and an outfield.
- Built to scale, it is approximately one-half the size of a standard Little League T-ball field.
- Designed as a multi-purpose field, it can also be used to play soccer.
- The barrier-free design is a game changer that enables kids who have previously not been able to play sports because of limited mobility – due to reliance on wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, braces, being connected to ventilators and even lying on stretchers – the opportunity to participate in games to the best of their abilities.
- St. Louis-based Turf Life LLC, a maintenance company for synthetic surfaces, painted the entire field with bases, a pitcher’s mound and perimeter lines, as well as logos and stencils, to resemble an actual field while maintaining the integrity of the flat surface for total accessibility for kids with a range of mobility challenges.
Putting Green
- An approximately 800-sq.-ft. area features two synthetic grass putting greens with a total of six holes. A tee box for the putting green doubles as home base on the field.
- The new putting green will be used by PGA golf pro Kevin Cornto conduct his weekly golf lessons outdoors.
Paved Areas
- Outdoor recreation features also include a concrete-paved 588-ft.-long footpath, two large lookout areas and an additional patio, as well as hardscape areas and two dry creek beds, including one with a bridge, in keeping with the hospital’s philosophy of being a “bridge” to enable kids to transition from hospital and home.
Outdoor Nurses’ Station
- Protected by a double-oval butterfly-shapedcantilevered aluminum canopy frame with a translucent fabric sun-shade covering, the full-service outdoor nurses’ station features two under-counter refrigerators and an ice maker, as well as infrared heaters, a speaker system, WiFi, outdoor ceiling fan, an emergency pull-cord, and multiple electrical outlets.
- It is designed to enable necessary medical equipment to be plugged in while kids are away from their rooms. Additional moveable items will be available at the nurses’ station as needed for individual patients.
Facility-Wide Focus on Form, Function and Fun
- With unusual features extending from the building’s exterior to interior, eye-catching featuresinclude expansive windows, open spaces with soaring ceilings and a glass and metal curtainwall with a parapet roofline that dances up and down along with a wide variety of angles and curves in lieu of right-angle corners.
- Inside, a 112-ft.-long bridge connects the second floors between the original and new wings and serves as an efficient walkway while reinforcing the symbolism of the facility as a “bridge” between hospital and home. It’s one of three bridges that are integrated into the building design.
- Just off the lobby, a 28-foot rock climbing wall is the focal point of a large indoor playground filled with natural light from a glass window wall and soaring ceilings.
- There’s also an entertainment area with a stage, sound equipment and lighting facing an audience area that has numerous electrical outlets to enable staff to plug in necessary medical equipment while kids are out of their rooms.
- Activity areas also include two functional kitchens designed with a mix of universal design and standard features to help prepare kids to transition home.
Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital helps kids and families from Missouri and other mostly Midwestern states transition from the acute care hospital to home. Located at 11365 Dorsett Road in Maryland Heights (suburban St. Louis County), Missouri, the hospital was founded in 1941.
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the oldest privately held national construction company – with more than 150 years spent collaborating with partners to solve complex building challenges on behalf of its clients. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com or by following the company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Google+.