[MUSIC PLAYING]
The expansion of the Children's Hospital
is important to our community because it
brings all of the services we offer under one roof,
a state of the art NICU, level 4, the highest
level in the state, a Women's and Babies Center that
offers full range of services, additional bed
capacity, and L&D rooms that offer moms the space
to have their childbirth in a comfortable setting,
as well as additional pediatric beds that
adds to the existing complement that's in the hospital today.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The sixth floor is divided into two areas.
There's a women's care, labor and delivery services on one
side, and then there's the new expanded pediatric surgery care
unit, is the new sixth floor area
where surgical patients will be largely cohorted.
And the idea is it's a welcoming environment.
When they come down the hall, and they see the nurses
station, and they're going into their room,
everything is about them and making their stay
as pleasant as possible.
It's unpleasant to be in a hospital.
Nobody comes there because they want to.
But the physical environment and the way things
are set up with all the visuals are
meant to be welcoming and becoming so that they have
a positive experience, and also reinforcing
that their child is getting the very best care here.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The idea with getting art for a Children's Hospital
is to be able to make everybody be
able to connect to some, or one, or a group of the pieces,
feel included, feel welcome, and hopefully
feel a little bit inspired and hopeful.
Each floor has one feature art piece
that is originally made for that floor for our hospital.
The staff knows exactly what artwork would serve them well
on their unit.
So we really gathered a lot of input
from staff on each floor to ask them,
what would you like on your unit?
What will help you through your day?
What will help your patients through your day?
In the end, the staff, over and over again, we find,
is so concerned about the welfare of their patients
and families that what they choose
is actually something that helps their workday because it helps
the patients and families.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
One of the biggest things for us, and we
are expanding the size of our unit.
We are basically doubling the number of labor and delivery
rooms that we have currently, keeping the same number
of areas for our triage patients,
and also having specialized place for our patients
who are coming for scheduled Cesarean deliveries.
The rooms are huge.
They are top of the line.
They were designed with every bell and whistle
that you could possibly want, but also
trying to make sure that we are making this a birth
experience for our patients that's
comfortable, and is welcoming, and makes them want to be here.
But also remembering that behind everything,
every beautiful thing that we've set out,
everything has been set up such that it's safe
and that we can do whatever we need
to do to take care of that mom and that baby very quickly.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The nurses have had a huge role in this expansion
and really in the design of the space.
They've been involved in this every step
of the way since the very beginning.
It's been a multi-year project for us
to be able to design this new space.
They've helped us pick out the flooring.
They've helped us pick the colors on the walls.
They've helped us pick the artwork,
and really helped redesign workflows
so that we can enhance the care that we provide to our patients
and families.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Our new NICU is going to be the perfect place for the baby,
for the family, if that baby is sick.
We are a hybrid bed NICU.
We are going to have this very special small baby
unit that no other hospital in the area has.
We are, importantly, one floor away from Labor and Delivery.
So we can just run down the stairs
if we're needed on Labor and Delivery for a baby who's sick.
You will be amazed at how well your baby will do when
they come through our NICU.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
2020 offered a lot of challenges for us in light
of the pandemic, as well as trying
to build an expanded Children's Hospital concurrently.
I have to say I'm super proud of the teams,
from the construction workers, to the nursing staff,
to leadership from all aspects of the Medical Center,
facilities teams, marketing, communications.
Everyone really rallied around this important project
and focused on meeting the deadlines and the timelines
that we set initially several years ago.
And we're pleased to say that we will be opening the Children's
Hospital on time and on the schedule that was initially
set, which is really exciting for patients and families
in the community who won't have to wait longer
to have access to our services.
[MUSIC PLAYING]