Walk the walk: Take the Yawkey Path to safety

Beginning Oct. 15, MGH staff, employees, patients and visitors will be required to use a newly covered, safe pathway along North Grove Street when walking between the Main Entrance and the Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care. Use of the Fruit Street sidewalk will not be permitted; therefore, access to and from the two buildings via the sidewalk will be strictly prohibited. This new pathway was created to ensure pedestrian safety from construction along Fruit Street and heavy vehicular traffic at the Fruit Street Garage.

The new designated route — dubbed the "Yawkey Path" — is only a few additional steps more than the path along Fruit Street. The Yawkey Path features a new canopy for protection from the elements, lighted pathways and safety from noise and construction activity along Fruit Street and the Main Entrance, where construction is underway for the Building for the Third Century (B3C), a new, 530,000-square-foot
clinical facility scheduled to be completed in 2011.

MGH staff and employees also should avoid using the Fruit Street sidewalk when entering and exiting the Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center. Patients and staff who have appointments or work at the Proton Center should use the Yawkey Path when traveling between the center and the Main Entrance. The only exception applies to MGH staff members transporting patients on stretchers to and from the Proton Center.

"It's critical for people to use this new path to walk to and from the Yawkey or Proton centers and the Main Entrance,"says Bonnie Michelman, director of MGH Police, Security and Outside Services. "It truly is not much longer, is completely safe, and most of it is covered with canopies. Using the old route along Fruit Street is extraordinarily dangerous given the construction and the hundreds of cars exiting the Fruit Street Garage hourly — often without great visibility. Because the north side of the Fruit Street sidewalk no longer will be available, pedestrians would be walking along the south side directly into the lanes of traffic at the garage and the Yawkey Center driveway. These decisions have been made with great care and thought, and we are asking all to comply with using this new route."

On Oct. 15, 17, 19 and 23, MGHers will have the opportunity to officially inaugurate the new route and take part in a series of kick-off events scheduled throughout the days. Members of the Thrive Team, the B3C operations group; MGH Nutrition and Food Services; and hospital administrators will be present along the path to hand out giveaways and snacks to pedestrians who use the route.

While the B3C is under construction for the next four years, the Yawkey Path will be the safest conduit for staff and employees walking between the Main Entrance and the Yawkey Center. For more information about the Yawkey Path, call Natalie Nguyen, administrative fellow, at (617) 726-4954; Denise Palumbo RN, MSN, executive director of Radiology and director of Operations for the B3C, at (617) 726-1667; or Bonnie Michelman at (617) 726-7979.