Finishing touches underway on Sanderson Tower
Published on Thursday, October 8, 2020
By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu
With construction completed, Children’s of Mississippi is now working to furnish the children’s hospital tower in anticipation of its opening.
“The work didn’t stop when construction crews left,” said Chris Collado, clinical liaison for the project. “For Children’s of Mississippi, it’s now time to do the work that we have been carefully planning for more than a year.”
The Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi will open for patient care in November.
Coordination of the moving-in process has involved departments across the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Collado said.
“Campus Police, food service, computer systems, cleaning – those are just a few of the many departments that support our children’s hospital and its expansion. We are working not only to place the furnishings, equipment and supplies needed throughout this tower but to train all of our team members to make sure the tower’s first day of operation, November 2, is smooth.”
Maps, signs and volunteers will be in place when the tower opens to ensure that families of hospital inpatients and clinic patients will be able to find their way in the new space, Collado said.
In September, general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie officially handed the completed tower to UMMC, said Brian Reddoch, director of construction in the Medical Center’s Office of Planning, Design and Construction.
“The work done on this tower is excellent,” Reddoch said. “We have a state-of-the-art children’s hospital that is more than doubling UMMC’s pediatric space, and it is also a beautiful building where families and children will be more comfortable. It’s something in which the entire state can take pride.”