SPRINGDALE - Arkansas Children’s board members and staff hosted a topping out ceremony for donors and volunteers on the construction site and future home of Arkansas Children’s Northwest. The crowd cheered as a beam painted white and covered in signatures from supporters was raised into place on the steel super structure.
In construction, the “topping out” of a building is a builder’s rite and a long-standing tradition. The beam is the tallest beam that will be placed on the project. Last week, it was transported to corporate headquarters at Tyson Foods, Inc.; Walmart; J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.; George’s, Inc. and the Arkansas Children’s Clinic at Lowell, where employees were invited to sign their names and write messages of support. Guests of the Topping Out Celebration added their signatures, as well.
health of the children who live in this region. And we are proud to invest in the future of the children of Northwest Arkansas.”
When it opens in January 2018, Arkansas Children’s Northwest will be the region’s first and only comprehensive pediatric healthcare center and will include:
• 24 inpatient beds to care for children requiring overnight stays
• 24-hour pediatric Emergency Department
• Pediatric surgery unit with 5 operating rooms
• An outpatient clinic with 30 exam rooms supporting more than 20 subspecialty areas and a general pediatric clinic
• A full range of ancillary and diagnostic services, child-life and pastoral care
• Outdoor gardens, nature trails, and interactive features designed for children
• A helipad and refueling station supporting Angel One, one of the nation’s leading pediatric intensive care transport services with more than 2,000 transports annually.
Arkansas Children’s Northwest is being built on 37 acres of land, a gift valued at $7.5 million, donated by Gary and Robin George, David and Cathy Evans and their families. The campus is centrally located on I-49 between Don Tyson Parkway and Highway 412, across from Arvest Ballpark. The project is expected to cost $427.7 million in construction, technology, equipment, and operating expenses over the next five years, and will create 250 new jobs.
Arkansas Children’s Northwest is being designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects of Fayetteville and Little Rock, Ark., and FKP Architects of Houston, Texas. Nabholz Construction is overseeing construction. The campus is an integral part of Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s plan to transform the health of children in Arkansas by expanding access to pediatric services acros