Spectrum Health Unveils Plans for New Children’s Hospital
Spectrum Health today unveiled design plans for a new DeVos Children’s Hospital at the corner of Michigan and Bostwick streets. The 12-story, 414,000-square-foot facility with a projected cost of $190 million is scheduled to open in 2010. Spectrum Health also announced that the new hospital will be called the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.
DeVos Children’s Hospital cares for more than 7,000 children as inpatients each year from throughout Michigan. On average, DeVos Children’s has a larger daily census than most children’s hospitals in the nation and cares for nearly 1,200 babies in one of the nation’s largest neonatal centers.
Features of the new children’s hospital include:
— Dedicated pediatric operating rooms and surgical support space
— Dedicated pediatric emergency department
— Dedicated pediatric radiology department
— Patient care units uniquely designed to maximize caregiver time at the bedside
“As the children’s hospital for 37 counties in Michigan, this facility will help us to continue to meet the health care needs of children in our region for generations to come,” said Richard C. Breon, Spectrum Health President & CEO. “The new children’s hospital will enable us to provide state of the art clinical care in an environment specially designed for pediatric patients and their families. We want to provide a comfortable, healing environment close to home.”
DeVos Children’s Hospital recently concluded phase two of a facility planning process with the help of staff and patient families to design a world-class facility. Throughout the past two years, more than 220 people including patient families, physicians and nurses have been involved in 51 design groups called Care Builders. The Care Builders met with representatives from the architectural design team to provide input related to patient rooms, family and public spaces, the clinical care model and information technology. These groups have been instrumental in helping to create plans for a new care experience. The design plans unveiled today evolved from this process.
“The extensive planning and program phases helped us determine how to deliver care most effectively,” said Breon. “By gathering input from a broad group of individuals, I am confident we are creating a facility that patient families and all of West Michigan will be very proud of. Having a children’s hospital of this caliber in our community is an important asset.”
Core principles involved in designing the new children’s hospital include:
— Keep families together, involved and informed
— Bring care to the patient and family
— Minimize pain, fear and anxiety
— Ensure patient and family safety and security
— Respect privacy and dignity
A groundbreaking date for the facility has not yet been set, but is expected in fall 2006. A fundraising campaign to help provide a portion of the building costs will be announced in 2006.
The hospital selected the architectural team of Jonathan Bailey Design, LLC, an affiliate of Jonathan Bailey Associates Ltd., and Rockwell Group to design a facility that supports the delivery of state-of-the-art clinical health care in an environment that focuses on the child and family’s care experience.
Jonathan Bailey Design, LLC, an affiliate of Jonathan Bailey Associates Ltd. is an international health care architectural firm. The practice creates facilities exclusively for the health care industry. Its approach to design is based on an understanding of the needs of patients and staff. Jonathan Bailey Associates has offices worldwide. Other projects include the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies at the Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando, Florida, Medical City Dallas in Dallas, Texas, and New Romford Hospital in London, United Kingdom.
Rockwell Group is an award-winning, cross-disciplinary architecture and design practice founded by David Rockwell. Based in New York City with a 160-person staff, Rockwell Group specializes in cultural, healthcare, hospitality, theater and film design. Known for its mastery of connecting experiences with design, Rockwell Group’s commissions include the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (New York, NY), which developed a new paradigm for children’s hospital design based on creating welcoming and informed experiences for both children and their parents. Other commissions include the design of the new home of the Detroit Tigers, Comerica Park; the renovation of the Meijer Stores; W New York and W Union Square; the Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame (New York City); and Cirque du Soleil (Orlando, FL).
DeVos Children’s Hospital is West Michigan’s largest children’s hospital, serving children and families throughout a 37-county region. The pediatric team includes more than 100 specialists uniquely skilled in providing medical care to children, in over 40 outpatient clinical settings. DeVos Children’s Hospital is committed to caring for children and families with compassion, excellence and innovation.
Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan that offers a full continuum of care through its seven hospitals, more than 140 service sites and 450,000-member health plan, Priority Health. Our 13,000 employees, 1,400 medical staff members and 2,000 volunteers are committed to delivering the highest quality care to those in medical need. We provided $88 million in community benefit during our 2005 fiscal year. Spectrum Health has earned numerous national awards including being ranked in Verispan’s listing of top 100 Integrated Healthcare Networks. For more information, visit spectrum-health.org.