Bell Center moves into its new building

After a year of construction, The Bell Center moved back into its home on 1700 29th Court S. in June. With the changes, Executive Director Jeannie Colquett said, the center will be able to meet families’ needs more efficiently and, eventually, grow its enrollment.

From the wider hallways and room layout to the addition of more windows and a playground structure, Colquett said the staff members “were, to a one, thrilled with how the building has turned out” when they visited in May.

The Bell Center provides early intervention programs for babies and toddlers with special needs, including gross and fine motor skills, speech therapy and physical therapy. Its new building occupies not only the former building’s space, but also part of the neighboring property at 1708 29th Court S.

The roughly 25 staff members have spent the last year providing services in a temporary home. Trinity United Methodist Church’s Oakmont campus, on Oak Grove Road, volunteered some of its office space for The Bell Center’s therapy programs.

“It has been amazing. … I can’t say enough about the staff and members of Trinity and Trinity West Homewood and how welcoming they’ve been to The Bell Center,” Colquett said.

That support has been critical, she said. Colquett also praised the work of The Bell Center’s staff in adapting to make sure the children in their care were still meeting their goals while in a place where “you might not have had all the things you wish you had at your finger tips, so you had to make do a little bit.”

Prior to the move, Colquett said the staff was filled with “eager anticipation” to plan and start using their new facilities. The Bell Center moved out of Trinity Oakmont at the end of May and had the building set up for kids to start the summer session on June 18.

Colquett described the new building as “beautiful” and “very well thought-out,” with details like grouping the baby rooms together and adding more windows for natural light. The center’s new playground structure has “all the things on it that we would want” to engage its young clients.

There are special viewing rooms next to the toddler therapy classes, so parents can watch what’s happening in class and befriend other parents. Colquett said they want moms and dads to “have a community that they can be a part of and rely on and share information with.”

“We really have kept them in mind when designing the building,” she said.

The new building also allows them to buy a few new pieces of equipment, such as an additional gait trainer for children working on walking skills.

Over several years, Colquett said, the additional space will allow growth up to about 150 enrolled children.

The Bell Center will hold a formal ribbon cutting and open house for its new facilities in late July, Colquett said. Learn more about The Bell Center’s programs at thebellcenter.org.