Rancho celebrates as final beam put into place

DOWNEY – Several Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center Administration and staff gathered along with Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe on Friday to commemorate the “topping out” of the future Outpatient Building.

During Friday’s small ceremony, multiple Rancho Los Amigos leaders were invited to sign the final steel beam of the developing structure. Supervisor Knabe also signed the beam before it was raised and set into place.

The new Outpatient Building is a part of the five year, two phase, $418 million Rancho Rising 2020 campus renovation and beautification project, which is currently on schedule and expected to conclude in the year 2020. 

Rancho COO Benjamin Ovando described Friday as a “big milestone” in the process of the campus’s construction.

“In this building we’ll actually be able to provide outpatient services to all of our patients in one building, whereas right now we’re kinda spread out among five buildings that were built anywhere from the early 1900’s to about the 1960’s,” said Ovando. “So it’s going to be a lot easier for our patients because they won’t have to go from building to building for their appointments. Now they’ll be able to go to just one building and get all of their outpatient services.”

Along with the added convenience of the single outpatient building, Ovando also cited getting into seismic compliance as one of the major parameters in going forward with the construction. 

Supervisor Knabe, who has been one of the driving forces and biggest supporters of the Rancho Rising project, described Friday as a “great day for Rancho.”

“I think the importance of Rancho is not only locally and to the county and to the region, but to our state and our nation. It’s one of the top rehab hospitals in America, and the only public facility that always makes that ranking,” said Knabe. “What we do here is extremely important…it’s just a great day.”