The Children's Hospital constructs new LEED-certified patient tower

The Children's Hospital has begun the construction of a 10-story, 350,000-square-foot addition. The $230 million expansion of a new patient tower initially will have 124 beds, with two floors of shelled space for additional future beds, bringing the total number of patient beds at Children's to around 500 upon full completion. The expansion also is expected to bring approximately 500 new jobs to the hospital's workforce. Children's anticipates admitting patients in the LEED-certified tower beginning in late 2012.

“Children's is a healing place and all that we imagined for this hospital is coming to pass - a little earlier than we had anticipated”

"It's been incredibly fulfilling to know so many parents and primary care physicians entrust the care of their children to us," said Jim Shmerling, DHA, FACHE, president and CEO, The Children's Hospital. "We're honored to be given the privilege of meeting the needs of the region's children, whether that need is to fix a broken arm or treat a complex childhood disease."

Immediately following the September 2007 move to the Anschutz Medical Campus, Children's experienced a 10 percent jump in inpatient admissions - this double-digit trend has continued. In 2009, Children's touched the lives of more than 150,000 infants, children and teens, a record high with more than 12,800 inpatient visits and more than 452,000 outpatient visits throughout the year.

"Children's is a healing place and all that we imagined for this hospital is coming to pass - a little earlier than we had anticipated," said Cathey Finlon, hospital board chair. "When we planned and built the new hospital, we knew the community would embrace this new facility. As a not for profit hospital, we moved forward with caution and conviction and have found that more families than ever want to use our facility."

The Children's Hospital has a 100-year history of providing care to children and offering a broad array of pediatric specialties. The new tower will allow the hospital to expand in a new direction and help both high-risk pregnant women and their babies in a center for advanced maternal fetal medicine, a partnership with the University of Colorado Hospital that was announced in early July. It also will allow the hospital to expand existing services, including the Heart Institute, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, digestive health, neuro sciences, orthopedics and rehabilitation, respiratory, solid organ transplantation, as well as the medical surgical units and the neonatal, pediatric and cardiac intensive care units.