Intern Assigned To Work On Award-Winning Project

Kraus-Anderson interns aren’t making coffee runs. They’re assisting with award-winning projects and making an impact in the communities in which we live and work.

As an intern, KA assigned Bre Nava to work on Regions Hospital Family Birth Center. On the jobsite from May through August of 2019, Nava worked alongside an experienced team and gained invaluable project insights.

In January, Minnesota Construction Association (MCA) awarded the Birth Center with Project of the Year for New Projects Over $15 Million.

In wake of the project’s recent success, Nava, now an Assistant Project Manager, looks back on her time with the project team, the Birth Center’s unique features, and what it means to be recognized for dedicated work.

Q: You worked on Regions Hospital Family Birth Center as an Intern. What was is like to be part of such an influential project so early in your career at Kraus-Anderson?

NAVA: I feel like KA set me up with an All-Star team on an amazing project. At the time, I don’t think I fully understood the influence this project has. Looking back, I am so proud to have been part of such an expansive project.

Q: What did you learn from the individuals you worked with on the project?

NAVA: What didn’t I learn!? The three months I spent on the project was a crash course of everything I’d touched on in school. But now I was seeing it in the real world, in real time. I had a notebook full of information and tried to absorb every bit I could.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#CC0202″ class=”” size=””]“The three months I spent on the project was a crash course of everything I’d touched on in school. But now I was seeing it in the real world, in real time.” [/perfectpullquote]

Q: What aspects of the Birth Center do you find most unique?

NAVA: The Birth Center feels less like a hospital and more like a spa. The design incorporated several aspects that studies have shown are beneficial to mother-child bonding. The Center includes birthing tubs, The Butterfly Room [(a private, quiet space designed for families to gather and grieve together if they have experienced a fetal or maternal loss)], and postpartum rooms— features that support both the mother and baby and allow for them to stay in the same room as much as possible. Another neat part of this building is that it was designed to make future additions.

Q: How does the Birth Center benefit the communities it serves?

NAVA: While I was there, there were several meetings to discuss how this project was designed and built to better serve the diversity within our community, as well as assist in correcting unconscious bias [that can occur in the medical field] surrounding minority groups. The team built with this knowledge in mind, and I believe it’s making a positive impact in the community today.

Click here to learn more about the racial and ethnic disparities associated with childbirth.

Q: Regions Hospital Family Birth Center recently won Minnesota Construction Association’s ‘Project of the Year’ (Category: New Projects over $15 Million). Describe your experience attending the gala.

NAVA: I was so excited to hear the announcement that KA’s project had won! It was great to see my project managers’ and superintendents’ hard work pay off.

Q: How did it feel to sit at the gala, now a full-time employee, and be recognized for your team’s hard work and successful project outcome?

NAVA: I am very proud to be even a small part of this project and so happy for the team that worked on this project for its entirety. They are truly the ones who should be recognized, very deserving!

Learn more about the Regions Hospital Family Birth Center and Kraus-Anderson’s work on the “Build Me Up” podcast!