Donna Terrell’s Warrior Lodge, a home away from home for patients at the Jones-Dunklin Cancer Center, will move across the Jefferson Regional campus to the hospital’s former School of Nursing location on 40th Avenue.
A Jefferson Regional spokeswoman confirmed Thursday plans to construct a new building for the Warrior Lodge, named after the KLRT Fox 16 News anchor, on South Mulberry Street have been abandoned in favor of renovating the former School of Nursing campus due to construction costs.
The lodge was to open by this summer, and the nursing school moved last year to Jefferson Regional’s Watson Chapel Health Complex on Dusty Lake Drive.
KLRT first reported the lodge’s move Wednesday evening, adding the move would allow operators “to remain responsible stewards of the generous donations received so far.” Terrell said in the report the lodge is a joint venture of her Yoga Warriors Fighting Cancer nonprofit and Jones-Dunklin. Yoga Warriors, Terrell added, will oversee day-to-day operations of the Warrior Lodge.
A video from the station’s report shows Terrell striking the first blow to a wall inside the old School of Nursing.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Yoga Warriors was founded after her daughter Queah, who died in 2011 after being diagnosed with colon cancer, learned about the benefits of yoga for cancer survivors.
The cost of renovation is not immediately known. Construction of a new lodge last October was estimated at $550,000.
This story will be updated.