Sierra builds and donates ‘Heart Beat Lounge’ to Lady Ridgeway Hospital

Little patients visiting the Paediatric Cardiac Centre at the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital (LRH) and their guardians now have the use of a comfortable lobby and waiting area, thanks to the generosity of Sierra Construction Ltd., a leading engineering and construction solutions company in Sri Lanka.

Aptly named the ‘Heart Beat Lounge,’ the building was purpose designed and built by Sierra as a corporate social responsibility initiative in response to a request by Dr. Shehan Perera, Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist at the hospital who saw the need to provide space for the parents and guardians of children undergoing cardiac surgery.

“The Heart Beat Lounge fulfils a much-felt need at the Children’s Heart Centre of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital,” said Kamaj Wanigasooriya, CEO (Telecom) at Sierra. “As a responsible business entity, we were happy to be able to help the hospital and the thousands of people and children that will visit the Centre over the years. I would like to thank Dr. Shehan for giving us this opportunity and Chamal Jayalath, Chartered Architect and S. T. B. Dissanayake (C. Eng) at Sierra for their contributions to the successful completion of the project.”

Before the lounge was built, children and accompanying adults had to wait in a common corridor until the children were taken into the operating theatre. In addition, all parents who came to see their children in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) also had to wait in the busy corridor. 

The Children’s Heart Centre at Lady Ridgeway Hospital is the only dedicated Paediatric Cardiac Centre in the country that provides comprehensive cardiac care including diagnostics, cardiac interventions and surgery to children free of charge.

Sierra Construction Ltd. is a fully owned subsidiary of the diversified Sierra Holdings Ltd., which has interests in cable manufacturing, PVC manufacturing, fertilizer manufacturing and leisure in addition to construction. 

Sierra Construction is one of the leading general engineering and construction solutions providers in Sri Lanka in telecommunication, IT, water supply and sewerage, road and bridges, buildings and piling and has been in the business of providing turnkey engineering solutions since 1981. 

Sierra employs over 4,000 people in Sri Lanka and has a strong presence in Myanmar and the Maldives. An ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified company, Sierra possess CS2, the highest Grade issued by CIDA – the Construction Industry Development Authority – in the field of construction.