Childrens Hospital Los Angeles: building the children's hospital of the future.

What will the children's hospital of the future look like? Some say that when the 460,000 square-foot, 280-bed New Hospital Building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles opens in 2008, 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.

"These new facilities have been years in the making and represent the collective thought of doctors, nurses, patients and their parents, architects and many, many others who have brought their unique perspective to the task--to design facilities that will support the most advanced medical and surgical practice available, anywhere," said Entertainment Tonight host Mary Hart, a member of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees and leadership co-chair of the New Hospital Campaign Committee.

"When we complete the construction, these facilities will enable us to meet our patient care responsibilities well into the future."

Children admitted to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles come from Los Angeles, Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties--and throughout the United States and around the world.

Childrens Hospital physicians are recognized as leaders. Its treatments set the standard of care. Its research is recognized worldwide.

"There is enormous need for the expertise available at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles," said Chris Albrecht, chairman and CEO of HBO, and leadership co-chair of the New Hospital Campaign Committee, whose seriously-injured daughter was airlifted and treated at the hospital six years ago. "Only if we support this remarkable place of hope and healing now can we ensure that the exceptional care for children we have come to depend on here in Los Angeles will be there when we need it most in the future."

"Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has attracted the very best pediatric physicians and surgeons, nurses and other caregivers," said Childrens Hospital Los Angeles President and CEO Walter W. Noce, Jr. "Now, our commitment is to improve and expand our facilities, endow important clinical treatment and research programs and provide annual support to meet our patient care, teaching and research responsibilities well into the future.

"We are doing well in accomplishing that task," he said, "due in large part to the generosity of others."

On May 18, 2001, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles dedicated the Marion and John E. Anderson Building, which celebrates the spirit of children, adolescents and families and includes the Burtie Green Bettingen Surgery Center--14 state-of-the-art operating rooms, special procedure units, recovery facilities and the Associates Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, where certain procedures can be performed more quickly with less pain and faster recovery time.

On June 29, 2003, the hospital dedicated The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and the new 88,500 square-foot, state-of-the-art research laboratory facilities as the Saban Research Building in recognition of Cheryl and Haim Saban's "... commitment to the children and families of Los Angeles and children everywhere." The Saban Research Institute is among the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States, and it is one of the few free-standing research centers in the nation to combine scientific inquiry with patient clinical care--dedicated exclusively to children. Its base of knowledge is widely considered to be among the best in pediatric medicine.

New underground parking facilities opened in June 2004 and are covered by the Joyce and Stanley Black and Family Healing and Meditation Garden, making it possible to demolish an existing building and adjacent parking garage to build the 280-bed New Hospital Building, which will be wrapped around the H. Russell and Jeanne R. Smith Research Tower on Sunset Boulevard.

"When our existing hospital building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles was dedicated in 1968, children were admitted to the hospital, treated, healed and discharged to the care of their families," says Vice President and CNO Mary Dee Hacker, who has been the executive-in-charge of the design and planning of the new facility. "But, medical care has evolved over the past four decades; we now encourage our parents to participate as an integral part of the healing process."

"If we support parents 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," she said.

The New Hospital at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will include an Emergency Department; imaging facilities; a Cancer Day Hospital, with a 61-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 inpatient medical heart unit; a 24-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU); and a 40-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). There will be 96 additional medical and surgical acute care beds.

It 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. 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 for therapeutic play. 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. Dining facilities on the ground floor will open onto spacious gardens, and a convenience store, which will be open 24-hours-a-day.

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.

"From the state-of-the art facilities to the healing gardens, the New Hospital Building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will set the standard for medical care for years to come," Mary Hart said, adding that it will "... benefit the children of the Greater Los Angeles area and the children of the world."