January 23, 2012

Anatomy of a Move: Part 1

It has been over a month since WBRC moved from the Palo Alto to the Menlo Park VAPAHCS medical campus.  The plans for this move were developed several years ago due to the need for a larger facility to house the growing services provided at the WBRC.  Although the move was anticipated, it still seemed to go very quickly once the move dates were announced. 

Yurika Vu, WBRC CATs Instructor, packs a box
in preparation for the move.
The WBRC has been operational in building 48 at Palo Alto since 1978, so there was quite a bit of history in those walls.  There were many discoveries when sorting through the storage closets and the safe including the original building plans for 48, newspaper clippings, and photo albums.  

Ron Roderick, WBRC Manual Skills Supervisor,
cracks the safe in the conference room.
Staff worked to prepare for the move by packing office, storage, and training space.  The move was planned to occur in many stages with equipment, furniture, and boxes color-coded for each stage.  Most of the heavy equipment in the wood shop was moved first for installation at Menlo Park prior to our arrival.  The rest of the move would occur over five days with a different stage each day.

Dr. Greg Goodrich, WBRC Research Psychologist,
stands by as the move team moves a
saw from the wood shop on a cart.

The move to Menlo Park was both exciting and bittersweet for many of the staff members.  The last staff meeting held at Palo Alto was very special.  After completing the regular meeting, staff were provided with a variety of pens and were instructed to write their goodbyes on the walls of the conference room. 

Roz Conanan, WBRC Orientation and Mobility Instructor,
writes a message on the wall of the conference room
during the last staff meeting.

 After their initial surprise the staff each made their marks on the walls.  Some messages were funny, some sentimental, but all were certainly heartfelt.   

Check back next week for part 2

Written by: Summer Beasley-Hoffman, WBRC Orientation and Mobility Specialist
Photos by: Dan Nakamura, WBRC CNVR Specialist

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