In 1996, Hillary Clinton, then the first lady of the United States, promoted her book “It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us,” establishing the popular adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
Now, fast-forward to 2010 and the grand opening of the new Acute Care Pavilion on the campus of San Diego-based Rady Children's Hospital, a state-of-the-art pediatric village where one may visit and think, “It takes a village to treat a child.”
In 1954, when Rady Children's Hospital first opened its doors, about a dozen patients were treated. Today, Rady Children's Hospital is one of the largest children's hospitals in the state of California, and the new Acute Care Pavilion adds 154 much-needed pediatric beds to the region. The new building houses three key healthcare divisions: The Peckham Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and the Warren Family Surgical Center.
OSHPD is not the enemy
Behind the scenes, it also took a village to ensure the $260-million Acute Care Pavilion project became a reality. Tim Jacoby, vice president of facilities for Rady Children's Hospital, led a design and construction team that consisted of personnel from Anshen+Allen, a part of Stantec Architecture; and McCarthy Building Co., Inc. The team aimed not only for LEED certification, but navigated stringent state mandates for earthquake safety laid out by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) as well.
Ultimately, the Rady project design and construction team successfully achieved the LEED certification, and worked in tandem with OSHPD to meet all the state's safety mandates and push the project to completion. In addition, there were no schedule delays on the Rady project, and change orders were viewed in an unfavorable light among team members.
