Donna Terrell’s Warrior Lodge, a home away from home for patients at the Jones-Dunklin Cancer Center, will soon open at Jefferson Regional Medical Center’s former School of Nursing location at 1800 W. 40th Ave.
Plans to construct a new building for the Warrior Lodge, named after the KLRT Fox 16 News anchor, at 4003 S. Mulberry St., have been abandoned in favor of renovating the former nursing school due to construction costs. Demolition inside the old nursing school has begun and will take about three weeks with construction expected to take about five months, Terrell said.
The Warrior Lodge is a joint venture of Terrell’s Yoga Warriors Fighting Cancer nonprofit, Jefferson Regional and the Jefferson Regional Foundation, with Yoga Warriors to oversee day-to-day operations. Yoga Warriors was founded after Terrell’s daughter Queah, who died in 2011 after being diagnosed with colon cancer, learned about the benefits of yoga for cancer survivors.
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.” The lodge will be the first of its kind in southeast Arkansas, according to Terrell.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“The freestanding facility, the longer it takes to build, costs keep going up and up and up,” Terrell said Thursday. “We started to realize we didn’t want to pull the plug on the freestanding facility, but it came clear as you look at a project funded strictly by donors, we wanted to be good stewards.”
Looking westward across the hospital, the old nursing school already has running water and electricity, along with everything else needed to install suites with bathrooms, kitchen, a common meeting area Terrell calls a “great room” and even a separate area for yoga.
“And, we’ll get more square footage,” she said. Jefferson Regional indicated the updated project is growing from 3,200 to 4,265 square feet and offers several advantages over the original plan including easier walking access from the cancer center and a much better use of donor funds.
“That’s significant, right? Why not pivot and give patients everything we set out to give them at no cost?” Terrell said.
The building at 1800 W. 40th Ave. was built in 1961 as a house of worship and pivoted to the Jefferson Regional School of Nursing in 2004. The nursing school is now located at the hospital’s Watson Chapel Health Complex.
“By remodeling this historic space, Donna Terrell’s Warrior Lodge not only honors the legacy of the building but also creates a welcoming sanctuary for cancer patients during their treatment journeys,” the hospital said in a news release.
Terrell estimates the cost of renovation to be upward of $700,000. Construction of the freestanding lodge last October was estimated at $550,000.
“We even have room to have a separate yoga area,” she said. “That’s something we weren’t going to have in the other building. It’s a blessing in disguise.”
Terrell credited Jefferson Regional, where her husband Kenneth Lambert is employed as an obstetrician and gynecologist, with the idea of moving the Warrior Lodge. The plan for the original freestanding location on South Mulberry, for which ground was broken last October, was to open by this summer.
“We are thrilled to partner with Donna Terrell on the Warrior Lodge at Jefferson Regional,” said Brian Thomas, president and CEO of Jefferson Regional. “This initiative will provide tremendous support to the patients and families of the Jefferson Regional Jones-Dunklin Cancer Center. The Warrior Lodge will allow them to stay close to the center during their cancer treatment, relieving them of the burden of traveling long distance. This partnership reflects our commitment to ensuring the well-being and comfort of our patients and their loved ones across south Arkansas.”
Nelson Architectural Group of Pine Bluff and Reynolds Construction of White Hall are the architects and contractors. Shayla Copas of Little Rock will provide interior design, according to Terrell.
To donate to Yoga Warriors and help complete the Warrior Lodge: yogawarriors.org.
