The new UI Children’s Hospital is on track for a December completion.
By Jenna Larson
For 97 years, pediatric patients have shared a building with the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. This winter, the Children’s Hospital will take on a new appearance as a freestanding hospital.
The UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital’s grand opening is near. Starting in June 2012, the goal was for the construction to be finished in the summer of 2016 and to open in December.
Tom Moore, the director of the UI Health Care media relations, said the Children’s Hospital project is still on schedule and budget, as well as on target for opening in December.
The nearly $360 million Children’s Hospital will have 14 floors, two underground. Each floor will represent the uniqueness and culture of the state of Iowa, said Scott Turner, the executive director of the hospital and co-chief operating officer of the UIHC.
“One of the things that was important was to make the building feel reflective of the state,” Turner said. “We are doing that through what we are calling the Iowa story.”
Turner said the color palette designed for the hospital represents things Iowan, such as farming and nature. Another aspect of the hospital is that each floor contains spaces dedicated to different uses, such as conference rooms, toddler play rooms, as well as rooms for young teens, said Jason Miller, the director of Project Management and Capital Management.
Miller said the areas that vary will allow age-specific rooms so people of all ages have a place to be in the hospital. Taking the concept of a waiting room to a new level, this will be especially useful for those who are staying at the hospital for an extended period of time, he said. The varieties of rooms will provide people with a more comfortable and home-like environment, making their visit easier.
Turner said a new addition to the hospital is a pharmacy in the lower level 1 of the hospital specifically for the children, noting that a fair number of new hirings will be for the Pharmacy Department.
“We will have a huge increase in pharmacists so they will be able to focus on weight-based dosing and further improving the quality and safety of the environment of preparing medications,” he said.
This will be one of the many leaps and bounds the hospital will take. Turner said he predicted this new hospital will continue to grow through expansion of its physician capacity.
He also predicted it will create awareness all over the state on what types of resources are offered in Iowa City, and he hopes that the staff will be able to elevate the overall health and well-being of the children in the state.
With a target date to open on Dec. 10, Turner said, officials look forward to providing care to the kids and families in their new world-class facility.
“Being already recognized by national outlets as one of the best children’s hospitals in the country, our new free standing hospital has a lot of potential to excel, Moore said.”
