At the beginning of the summer, I found myself surrounded by more unfamiliar faces than usual. At first, this was strange. I was accustomed to seeing the same group of people every day, seeing as we are small enough that remembering faces comes easily.
However, for the entirety of that summer, Maddie’s Place shared a workplace with Bouten Construction, a longtime, huge supporter of Maddie’s Place. They worked tirelessly to create our second nursery and complete other small projects along the way.
It was a big job for a neonatal medical facility. Bouten had to work around the full functioning of a growing nonprofit and sensitive babies.
However, they did this with grace– and the once unfamiliar faces working all around the building became a normal and welcomed part of everyone’s days.
The most time-consuming of their projects was converting an unused space into an operational nursery. You should have seen what this back room looked like before construction began. It was unfinished and littered with a random assortment of boxes, cabinets, and items for storage. But slowly as the summer rolled by, that seemingly useless space shifted to one of dire need.
It was fascinating to witness the progress of physical expansion. Each week, I saw the space come alive with new walls, ceilings, floors, and cabinets. Bouten made sure to renovate the space to our exact specifications, down to the vents in the diaper pail cabinets.
By the end of the summer, they completed construction and equipped Maddie’s Place with 5 new rooms, a large bottle making station, a spacious diaper room, and a lovely common area. The nursery, now labeled as the Recovery Nursery, holds our newest and most medically fragile babies who need a low stimulus space to grow.
Next came furnishing. We held a “sponsor a room campaign” from which we received full funding thanks to several generous individuals and a grant we received from Philipps 66. In addition to this, one of our former infant care specialists, Katie Getman, worked with us to design a comfortable and homey space. We couldn’t have done it without these people!
The original nursery is now labeled the Transitional Nursery, a space for us to introduce older and healthier babies to various sensory inputs (light, sound, etc.) in their preparation to leave Maddie’s Place.
Once the Recovery Nursery was officially set up, we settled into a new routine, and began to fine tune a new rhythm of operation. So far, this has really improved the workflow and further established our practices.
As you might have guessed, because of this major growth in space and the license to house 16 babies, our ranks also had to expand.
To manage the growing number of Infant Care Specialists, Maddie’s Place hired Shannon Davis, a former volunteer ICS herself, dedicated to our mission and vision. She has worked hard to fill holes in the schedule and set the two nurseries up for success. Maddie’s Place also hired Kari Moore (RN) as the Nurse Manager to do the same for nurses and assist the clinical team with organization and efficiency in the nurseries.
I have never had the privilege to watch a nonprofit grow so much. It’s been a great learning experience for everyone involved. To go from two employees to seventy-five requires so much troubleshooting and attention to detail. Our president, Shaun Cross, likes to say we are building the plane as we fly it– and I would say that rings true. We are excited to watch how this new nursery allows the plane to reach an entirely new level of flight.
A special thanks to Bouten Construction for their hard work and support of Maddie’s Place!
Questions? Suggestions? Email me at emma.jones@maddiesplace.org
This blog was posted on December 15, 2023.