In November 2020, the LaunchPM team proudly attended the grand opening of Hushabye Nursery located in Phoenix near 32nd St. and McDowell Rd. Fast forward four years, and LaunchPM recently completed an update and expansion to the building to accommodate the growing needs of the organization. Hushabye Nursery is a nonprofit organization dedicated to delivering compassionate, evidence-based care to substance-exposed babies and their caregivers. The LaunchPM team donates its project management services and expertise to help support this local charity.
The Hushabye Nursery recovery center is the first of its kind in Arizona. It is the vision of founder Tara Sundem, a neonatal nurse practitioner who witnessed the challenges newborns experience when they are exposed prenatally to opioids and substance abuse. Hushabye Nursery offers a safe and inclusive space where mothers, family members and babies – from conception through childhood – can receive integrative care and therapeutic support that offers each child the best possible life outcomes. Programs include prenatal and postpartum support groups, inpatient nursery services and outpatient therapies.
In 2019, Beth Scarano, CEO of LaunchPM, joined the board of Hushabye Nursery. When she learned about Tara’s vision and needs for a service center, the LaunchPM team agreed to take on the project management for construction of the new facility pro bono. When the time came to update and enhance the space, LaunchPM stepped up to help once again.
The Hushabye Nursery building is a single-use structure that was previously a retail space. The original project required building code modifications to meet the special occupancy designation. LaunchPM worked closely with the City of Phoenix to give clear direction on construction to ensure all code requirements were met. Demands for services and space continue to increase.
While the existing space is approximately 5,100 square feet and includes private nurseries for mothers and their babies, a nurse’s station, showers, private offices for staff, private rooms for
classes and an activity room, Hushabye Nursery needed more room and an update to the existing center. The original space got a fresh coat of paint in the lobby, offices and nursery rooms. New flooring was installed in the lobby and multipurpose room, along with added storage cabinets and additional light fixtures in the nursery. Phase two also included a conversion of approximately 1,100 square feet of the basement. Two previously inaccessible spaces are now usable storage areas. The staircase and handrails to the basement were painted, along with the new storage areas where luxury vinyl floors were also installed. In addition, HVAC ductwork was reworked to reduce sound transfer in the basement offices.
One of the biggest challenges on this project for LaunchPM was getting the work done without disturbing or disrupting the babies and their care. The center operates 24 hours a day and the babies are often sleeping in the nursery rooms where work needed to take place. They overcame this by implementing a strict phasing plan that broke the nursery rooms into groups of 2 or 3 sections. Hushabye would alert the general contractor, Ak-sar-ben Companies, 24 hours in advance that the group of rooms would be unoccupied for a day. The construction team then had a day or two to remove everything from the room, install lighting, paint, complete work and place everything back.
The Phoenix recovery center for Hushabye Nursery was in the works for roughly five years before it initially opened. During their four years in operation, Hushabye Nursery’s team has successfully served more than 800 babies with NAS and provided education, counseling and support to families. The program is proving successful at caring for the babies through the detox process and empowering families to live a healthier and more productive life.
One of the core values of the LaunchPM team is giving back to the community where we live and work. Individually and as a group, we volunteer our time, we sponsor events and provide in-kind and discounted services to organizations and nonprofits like Hushabye Nursery. Project management services include scheduling, budget development, design and construction administration, procurement, project closeout and more. Contact LaunchPM today to learn more about how the project management team can help with your next commercial construction project.
