Name: CapFed Best News: Downtown Ramada offers no-cost rooms to health care providers, first responders
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CapFed Best News: Downtown Ramada offers no-cost rooms to health care providers, first responders

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Matt Gallowaymgalloway@cjonline.comView CommentsThe coronavirus pandemic thrust health care workers and first responders into the spotlight, and the public responded with .One of Topeka’s most meaningful showings of support came early last month when Jim Parrish quietly offered those workers free rooms at the downtown Ramada Hotel and Convention Center, though the president and CEO of Parrish Hotel Corp. noted his appreciation for individuals in those fields predates COVID-19.“You go into either one of those emergency rooms and they’re there to take care of you,” said Parrish, referring to Stormont Vail Health and The University of Kansas Health System St. Francis Campus. “I don’t want to talk about this publicly so much but I had that experience unexpectedly in January where I needed to be hospitalized right away. It all got resolved pretty well. I’d hate to single anyone out because they’re just remarkable. …“They all inspire me because they have to react when the emergency happens.”Gov. Laura Kelly’s statewide stay-at-home order issued March 28 , and the capital city’s Ramada was no different — “In our case it would have been probably just as prudent to close down as stay open,” acknowledged Parrish, whose full-service hotel also typically hosts banquets and also features apartments and commercial space.Parrish ultimately kept operations running, and when that decision was made, his thoughts shifted to what he could do to help out amid the crisis.The Ramada in early April set aside a block of rooms for health care providers and first responders, offering a cost-free place for those individuals to stay. The program has in some cases eliminated what had before been significant daily commutes — Parrish, a member of the Stormont Vail Health board of directors, shared an example of one worker at that hospital who had a two-hour-plus trek each way before taking advantage of the policy.“If you have a really long shift and a really long commute, there isn’t much sleep time,” Parrish said. “... It may be getting better at the hospitals, but it’s still at a crisis level to the point that there are people that have those long commutes, long hours.”Of the rooms set aside for health care professionals, 11 or 12 are occupied at most times. The hotel has yet to fill the full 20, though Parrish said he would welcome that scenario.“The other thing that it does is it lets them avoid going home to families if they feel uncomfortable doing that, because no one really ever knows if they’ve been exposed until they’ve been tested. So that’s another little side reason that we decided to do that,” Parrish said. “It just seemed like a way to help and participate in the solution if we could.”The unique challenges police and highway patrol officers, EMS workers, firefighters and other government first responders face served as the impetus for Parrish’s decision to also extend the no-charge room offer to those groups.“Especially the police department, where they’re fighting crime and dealing with individuals that are not terribly pleasant and not worried too much about social distancing,” Parrish continued. “... Those officers don’t have any choice. So if they believe they’re exposed, I’ve got a place for them that they can stay for 48 hours or long enough to determine whether they are or not.”The Ramada has also extended a helping hand to truck drivers, railroad workers and some construction workers, offering individuals in those fields rooms at discounted rates ($44 for a single, $49 for a double or triple).“We’ve had incidental reports from truck drivers that a lot of truck stops won’t let them use the showers anymore,” Parrish said. “Everybody’s scared. They’re trying to follow the rules. So hotel rooms become a lot more important to (truck drivers). In order to keep what amount of the economy we have, we’re relying on truck drivers.”Set at a break-even level, the discounted rates were sliced “to the bone,” Parrish said.“The business generally, it’s hundreds of thousands of dollars off. It is something like I would’ve never imagined,” Parrish said. “Still, we’re able to provide something for the community by staying open.”When Parrish Hotel Corp. rolled out these policies a month ago, it didn’t send out a news release. That’s because the goal, Parrish indicated, was never a public pat on the back.“We’re not trying to focus attention on ourselves at Parrish Hotel Corp. and the downtown Ramada so much as be available to help people through this,” Parrish said. “I think the response from most of the community has been so positive and unified that it makes it feel even more like we made the right decision to be a part of the solution to help us get through this problem.”View Comments

Matt Gallowaymgalloway@cjonline.comView CommentsThe coronavirus pandemic thrust health care workers and first responders into the spotlight, and the public responded with .One of Topeka’s most meaningful showings of support came early last month when Jim Parrish quietly offered those workers free rooms at the downtown Ramada Hotel and Convention Center, though the president and CEO of Parrish Hotel Corp. noted his appreciation for individuals in those fields predates COVID-19.“You go into either one of those emergency rooms and they’re there to take care of you,” said Parrish, referring to...

CapFed Best News: Downtown Ramada offers no-cost rooms to health care providers, first responders

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