As part of the firm’s “Heart Hats” community outreach program, project team members of McCarthy recently staged a “nuts and bolts” construction training session along with a guided tour of the $260 million Rady Children’s Hospital Acute Care Pavilion construction site for a local San Diego troop of 10-year-old Boy Scouts seeking to earn their engineering badges.
The Boy Scout troop began with an orientation and Q&A session in the conference room of McCarthy’s onsite construction trailer, before going on to study construction drawings and a 3-D model in the planning room. The boys learned firsthand from McCarthy representatives how such a project goes from construction drawings to actual completion.
From there, the Boy Scouts and their parental guardians suited up in hard hats, vests and safety glasses and proceeded on a guided tour of the actual construction site, where they were given a behind-the-scenes peek of the new Acute Care Pavilion coming out of the ground. The Boy Scouts were able to view the skeletal frame of the four-story structure — elevator shafts and all — and learn what will make this project “green.”
“It was gratifying to experience the wonder and excitement of these young, eager-to-learn Boy Scouts,” said Steve Van Dyke, senior project manager for McCarthy, who spearheaded the community outreach event. “It was a good opportunity for us to expose young people to the types of jobs available in the construction industry, should they choose this career path later on.”
Situated on a 148,650-square-foot site at the southeast end of the Children’s Hospital campus at 3020 Children’s Way in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego, the new state-of-the-art Acute Care Pavilion will house a surgical center with 16 operating rooms, 80 private patient rooms, a new-natal intensive care unit and a cancer center. Slated for completion in 2010, the building is striving for LEED certification.
About McCarthy Heart Hats
The McCarthy “Heart Hats” community involvement program is dedicated to encouraging, supporting and recognizing McCarthy employees’ volunteer efforts in a variety of causes to ensure real needs are being met in communities where employees work, live and play. Some of the past recipients of McCarthy Heart Hats efforts in Southern California include American Heart Association, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Kaiser Vallejo Hospital Community Clean-Up, Ocean Institute, Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children, the Salesian Boys and Girl’s Club, the Salvation Army transitional housing Nancy Painter Home, and the San Diego Children’s Hospital and Health Center. McCarthy employees are as passionate about building better communities as they are about construction. In addition to recognizing outstanding employee volunteers and providing a companywide paid volunteer day, McCarthy “Heart Hats” donates countless hours of in-kind services and monetary contributions to improve communities each year.
Founded in 1864, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest commercial construction companies. The firm is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com.
