|
What will the children’s hospital of the future look like? Some say that when the 460,000 square-foot, 317-bed New Hospital Building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is complete in 2009, it will be the finest medical and surgical environment for seriously ill and injured children anywhere in the United States. It will also improve seismic performance to not only withstand a major earthquake but be fully operational after a major seismic event to meet the 2030 standard mandated by California law.
“When our existing hospital building was dedicated in 1968, it provided truly visionary facilities that supported the standard of care in common practice at that time; that is, children were admitted to the hospital, treated, healed and discharged to the care of their families,” says Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Mary Dee Hacker, who has been the executive-in-charge of the design and planning of the new hospital facilities. “But, medical care has evolved over the past 35 years; we now encourage our parents to participate as an integral part of the healing process.
“If we support parents,” she says, “by providing facilities for them to be close to their children – an environment in which children and their families can heal and learn together – help them learn about the challenges of the particular illness or injury and make it easier to manage their lives, we empower them to be better caregivers, better parents.”
The New Hospital Building will feature spacious private rooms, designed with three distinct areas: a clinical area that will house sophisticated medical equipment; a family area that will include space for parents to stay overnight; and a patient area that will feature lighting and designs to help make children feel at home, including ceilings decorated with cheerful images. Semiprivate rooms will be available for children who can benefit from social contact, often so important for children with chronic disease.
Children will be able to visit Chase Place playrooms on each unit for therapeutic play. Working with a child life specialist, younger children will learn about their treatment through the use of doll models, while older children and their families can talk with child life specialists prior to medical procedures. Teenagers will have a lounge that will include a media center and a kitchenette, as well as space for computer games, arts and crafts, and more. Each floor will include separate staff and family lounges, with spaces for quiet and reflection. Dining facilities on the ground floor will open onto spacious gardens, and a convenience store will offer basic supplies that families may need during an extended stay.
A state-of-the-art Family Resource Center will provide information for parents about their child’s health care needs so that they can participate more fully in care giving. It will include Internet access, multilingual print and video reference materials and referrals to support groups.
The New Hospital at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will include an Emergency Department; state-of-the art imaging facilities; a 48-bed acute care Hematology/Oncology unit and a 14-bed Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit; a 24-bed Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU) and a 21-bed acute heart unit; a 24-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU); and a 58-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which will house the Center for Newborn and Infant Critical Care (CNICC). There will be 96 additional medical and surgical acute care beds. There will be 128 additional medical and surgical acute care beds.
|
