Transformation of the adjacent neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) II and NICU III units from a combined 12,632 square feet to a total of 20,844 square feet will begin in January 2016. There will be 16 new care pods — adding eight level III beds (increasing from 22 to 30) and eight level II beds (increasing from 30 to 38) — as well as four private rooms that accommodate family members.

Additionally, there will be a dedicated neonatal neuro intensive care unit section to monitor and care for infants with brain injury. The waiting area will include a sibling play area. The unit will also have dedicated breastfeeding areas, as well as a design with a nature theme that matches the rest of the children’s hospital.

“We are thrilled about our neonatal intensive care unit as the next step in the development of the UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital,” said Dr. David S. Guzick, senior vice president for health affairs at UF and president of UF Health, in a statement. “In this new facility, our talented and highly devoted faculty and staff will provide state-of the-art care for our smallest, most vulnerable patients and their loving families.”

Madison, Wisc.-based Flad Architects is planning the design for the new expansion. The architect company also designed a number of facilities and clinic for UF Health, including its cardiovascular and neuroscience hospitals.

Construction will be completed in phases. Phase one completion will have NICU III patients moving into the new space in fall 2016, followed by NICU II patients in spring 2017. The construction budget for the project is $20.7 million.

Since 1970, UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital neonatal physicians, nurses and caregivers have provided specialized care to small patients. The hospital has even accommodated some small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. The NICU renovations, according to the hospital, will result in a family-focused, comfortable environment in which medical teams can develo leading-edge neonatal care.

“The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is where lives and futures begin,” said Dr. Scott Rivkees, UF College of Medicine pediatrics chair and UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital physician-in-chief, said in a statement. “Every day, we ask ourselves what can we do better for these boys and girls, and what do their parents expect of us? I’m very proud that we will soon have a new facility that will help us build upon the wonderful care that these children receive.”

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The Robert Driscoll and Julia Driscoll and Robert Driscoll, Jr. Foundation Board of Trustees and the Driscoll Children’s Hospital Governing Board of Directors approved an $80 million construction project that will add a two-story, 70,000-square-foot building to the front side of the hospital and will house a new outpatient surgery center and pediatric intensive care Unit (PICU).

“There’s no doubt that Driscoll Children’s Hospital is the top source of medical care for the children in South Texas, and this massive project ensures it will be that way well into the future,” said Sam L. Susser, chairman of the Robert Driscoll and Julia Driscoll and Robert Driscoll, Jr. Foundation Board of Trustees, in a statement. “It’s exciting that our boards enthusiastically approved this multi-phased project. It’s an honor and a privilege to have such whole-hearted support.”

“One of our constant goals is to make sure Driscoll is family-centered and the ideal place for providing the best possible care for infants, children and their families,” Loyd Neal, chairman of the Driscoll Children’s Hospital governing board of directors, added in a statement. “These additions are all being made with those thoughts firmly in mind, and they ensure we keep the hospital pointed in that direction.”

The project will house a new outpatient surgery center and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The first floor of the new building will be home to a new Outpatient Surgery center and new Outpatient Lab. The new PICU will feature 16 patient-centered private rooms, accommodating more privacy and a higher level of technology. It all will be connected to the hospital’s main lobby by a concourse.

The new building will be adjacent to an expanded and renovated operating room (OR). The renovation will provide two additional OR suites and give the hospital a self-contained OR with supply and equipment areas and sterile processing center all centrally located.

“This project will give the entire hospital an even better flow for our patients and their families,” Driscoll Children’s Hospital President and CEO Steve Woerner said in a statement. “Adding a new Outpatient Surgery center and PICU that is all adjacent to an expanded OR enhances the delivery of care we can provide for our patients and better meets the needs of our physicians.”

The PICU’s private rooms aim to help to make the experience as pleasant as possible for everyone involved.

“Being able to have private rooms for our patients and families is beneficial for their emotional well-being when children need intensive critical care,” Woerner said in a statement. “Having your own private room allows the families to relax a little bit more and focus on healing.”

In additional phases of the vast construction project, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and radiology waiting areas will be upgraded to make those spaces more child-friendly and family-oriented. The project also will include enhancements throughout the hospital, including a relocation of the hospital’s helipad and an expansion of the parking garage.

The construction project also gives Driscoll flexibility for additions in the future. The new building will be a two-story structure with the capability of expanding to five floors during the second phase of construction. This will enable Driscoll to offer even more services for infants, children, women and their families.

“This is all part of our continued growth,” Woerner said in a statement. “We’re looking to the future and making sure we provide the highest level of care for the children and families of South Texas. This project is part of the ongoing modernization of the hospital and will continue to make Driscoll Children’s Hospital a place for hope and healing.”

The hospital credits local citizens to help with the new project.

“We are blessed with the support of the community,” Woerner said in a statement. “South Texas has embraced Driscoll Children’s Hospital for more than 60 years. It’s humbling to see the impact this community has allowed us to have in the lives of the children we serve, and projects like this allow us to continue to grow and be a part of the incredibly strong fabric of South Texas.”

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Situated on a 4.4-acre site, the new building will relieve overcrowding at the hospital and nearly quintuple the size of neonatal intensive care space from approximately 7,700 square feet to 36,600 square feet. The pediatric care unit will also triple in size and family education, living spaces and waiting areas, and an expanded play room will also be added. Overall, the neonatal and intensive care space at the new tower will add several private rooms and expand space from just 10,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet. The tower and master plan are led by HDR Inc, headquartered in Omaha, Neb.

While the building will hold great meaning to the medical center, which is in desperate need for additional and updated medical spaces, the design features symbolism derived from the Hawaiian culture and landscape, according to Jim Hohenstein, AIA, senior vice president at HDR Inc.

“Because much of the money to build the original Kapio’lani Maternity Hospital was raised through celebrations and luaus to create a link with the past, the new KMCWC was design to celebrate the natural features of the Aloha State and its people,” Hohenstein said. “The use of indigenous Hawaiian materials is meant to lend a familiarity to the families and patient that will use the facility. The use of symbols and imagery will pay homage to the island’s people, customs and traditions.”

The rock, ocean and landscape are integral to the Hawaiian environment and serve as metaphors for birth, life and health, Hohenstein said. The design expounds on this metaphor through various design details and features.

“The overall folded plate of the building exterior represents a seashell and the protective environment it provides for the living form inside, much as the hospital will do for its patients,” Hohenstein said. “The placing of the lei over a person’s head is a traditional Hawaiian greeting, so all who enter the facility will receive this spirit of aloha. An open lei built of simulated wood panels surrounds the front door for all to pass through.”

In undertaking the massive master plan, Hohenstein said he took away from the project the importance of remaining flexible and open-minded during the planning phases.

“This project took two major master planning efforts with numerous smaller iterations over a seven-year period before actual hospital construction took place,” he said. “HDR remained flexible and open to new ideas whenever the client’s criteria changed and we were therefore able to adjust a move with the punches. Locking in too early on master plan concepts and not being able to back off and take another look would have been detrimental.”

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Renderings were unveiled for the five-story building, which will include a 44-bed, private room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), a new perioperative surgery center and enhanced family areas.

“As pediatric medicine continues to evolve, so does our standard of care,” said Keith Goodwin, president and CEO of ETCH, in a statement. “This will allow the hospital to continue to provide the highest level of care to our region’s children. The project is about acknowledging the importance of families in the care we provide, improving the efficiency of care and ensuring that we have the opportunity to accommodate future growth.”

The much needed space will allow ETCH to better care for their patients, according to officials. The expansion will provide more space to treat children with chronic conditions such as cystic fibrosis and other special needs, and the advanced NICU will create an advanced health care facility to provide the best possible care for infants.

“We currently have an undersized NICU and surgery suites,” Goodwin said in a statement. “This building will give us the opportunity to build state-of-the-art operating rooms, anticipate emerging technology, as well as providing an even better experience for our patients and families.”

Enhanced family care spaces, such as rooftop gardens, were also integrated into the design to create a calming atmosphere for families to visit and heal.

The hospital has already provided approximately $60 million in funding for the project. About $9 million has been provided by private donors and the hospital is now fundraising to fill the remaining $6 million gap.

The 245,000-square-foot expansion, which will take approximately two years to construct, is set to break ground in late August. Additional renovations to the hospital are expected to complete in 2017.

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The recently completed phase, which updated the NICU up to 44 private patient rooms, uses the most up-to-date neonatal technologies such as GE Giraffe OmniBed incubators and Phillips MP80 physiological monitors that are linked to a central monitor in the nurses’ station. The renovation also includes two rooms for families with twins.

“The latest thinking in neonatal care requires a more family-centered approach,” said Thomas Kmetz, chief administrative officer of Kosair Children’s hospital, in a statement. “This has been shown to improve the short-term and long-term outcomes for premature and medically fragile infants in addition to providing a more comfortable setting for parents.”

The family-centric design features a flat-screen TV with DVD player, a rocking chair, a tall swivel chair at the incubators height and a bench with additional storage in each patient room. The added amenities are intended to create a more comfortable space for families.

The KCH provides services to more than 1,200 babies and their families each year for issues related to prematurity, congenital birth defects and complications in childbirth. A patient’s length of stay at the NICU can range from a few days to several months.

“We are able to offer a Level IV NICU, which means we are a regional center with services to treat all medical and surgical needs of newborns, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and cardiopulmonary bypass for serious congenital heart defects,” said Dan Stewart, neonatologist and medical director of the NICU, in a statement. “In addition, this renovated space better incorporates the family in the care of their baby.”

The previous renovations to the NICU added family-centered care areas at Norton Hospital and connected those areas to KCH through a pedestrian walkway. The next two phases will renovate the existing NICU space and construct the White Castle Family Space.

The renovations were partially funded by $14 million from the Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“The Children’s Hospital Foundation is thrilled to have supported such an important project,” said Lynnie Meyer, executive director of the Children’s Hospital Foundation, in a statement. “Support we have received from the community specifically for this project helped facilitate such an important investment in our work. We know that the changes we are making will mean a great deal to the more than 1,200 families who need our services every year.”

The NICU will begin occupation some time in early January, according to hospital officials.

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The expansion is geared towards patient-centered, efficient and technologically advanced health care practices, and will replace outdated buildings that date back decades.

The new 11-story, 636,247-square-foot facility is estimated to be $450 million and will feature patient care units that each have private rooms and bathrooms, as well as centralized nursing stations and dedicated family spaces on each floor. The emergency department will have separate treatment areas for trauma, cardiac, urgent behavioral health and pediatric patients, and will more than double the number and size of exam rooms.

Other features include larger surgical suites to allow for new technologies; a pediatric unit in the Whittingham Pavilion, with a location adjacent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; an expansion of the Intensive Care Unit; and a central location for Heart & Vascular Institute services such as electrophysiology, catheterization and interventional labs.

“As a partner in the Plantree organization, the design of the new facility reflects the philosophy that places a priority on providing the highest levels of patient and family care,” said Tushar Gupta, AIA, the project designer, in a statement. “Stamford recognizes the interdependence between an efficient, healthful environment and the well-being of people and the facility embodies those principles at every level of design — from clinical space to patient rooms to the way that the new building is connected to its community context. This includes the use of natural light and a building design more closely integrating the facilities with nature, along with more effective noise control and way-finding.”

To prepare for construction, the hospital combined two of its main entrances into one at the Whittingham Pavilion in April and it now offers visitors free valet parking.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2016.
 

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