Builders of North Memorial's family lodge to get salute today

More than a dozen contractors who worked on a guesthouse for families of North Memorial Medical Center patients will be thanked this afternoon by hospital officials.

All labor and materials were donated to rehabilitate the six-family guesthouse next to the Robbinsdale hospital. Now, after five months, the contractors who worked on the newly christened North Lodge will tour the makeover of what was once a duplex.

The primary users of the North Lodge will most likely be families from outside the Twin Cities area who have a loved one at North Memorial for emergency or trauma treatment.

The guesthouse had been idle since 2003. It was made over in a northern Minnesota theme, recognizing that many families who come to North Memorial are from that part of the state.

PAUL WALSH