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Children's Hospitals in Renovation Boom 02.21.2005, 01:44 PM The University of Chicago's new Comer Children's Hospital is the latest in a nationwide construction boom at children's hospitals and a gleaming example of the push for kid- and family-friendly facilities that are also medically state-of-the-art. With 42-inch flat-screen TVs in the rooms, pullout couches for overnight guests and a no-parents-allowed rec room with a juke box, pinball machine and video games, youngsters could almost forget this is a hospital. Even the medical equipment at the University of Chicago's new Comer Children's Hospital is hidden, stored in wall vaults with sliding doors camouflaged by colorful artwork. "My kids say 'Dad, can I get sick?'" laughs Dr. Steve Goldstein, who was recruited from Yale last year to run the new $135 million hospital on Chicago's South Side. A 2003 survey by the National Association of Children's Hospitals found that at least 41 of the nation's 250 children's hospitals had construction projects under way or recently completed. Among them: a newly opened $172 million children's hospital at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, a $250 million children's hospital in Denver slated to open in 2007, a $500 million expansion at Children's Hospital Los Angeles to open in 2008, and a $1.1 billion expansion at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to open in 2010. The boom stems from changes in U.S. health care that have given children's hospitals a larger share of a shrinking market, said Lawrence McAndrews, president of the National Association of Children's Hospitals. With managed care's emphasis on hospitalizing only the sickest patients, most children needing hospital care are now sent to children's hospitals. Children's hospitals are "repackaging" themselves to attract patients and top doctors, and children-centered features are a key ingredient, McAndrews said. In a traditional teaching hospital, "you'd open the doors and see a guy in a gray coat with a book who looked like Socrates in modern garb," not a very welcoming image for sick children, McAndrews said. "Today, the message is: 'How can we make you feel at home and how can we create an environment that will enhance the healing process?'" The original design for Comer's patient rooms had bathrooms visible from the corridor. Patients complained, so the bathrooms were tucked out of view, Goldstein said. Patients also helped pick the hospital's interior color scheme - cornflower blue and gold rather than hospital green. Jackie Tusack, a 13-year-old from Monee who has had 32 operations at the University of Chicago for a recurring facial tumor, is on a youth advisory board that helped with Comer's design. Elevators with pastel, illuminated ceilings that change colors are her favorite feature. "It's just got so much stuff that they didn't have at the old place," she said. "I really love it." The University of Chicago is now No. 26 on U.S. News & World Report's 2004 list of top hospitals for pediatrics. Crosstown rival Children's Memorial Hospital is ranked No. 9. Publicly, both hospitals downplay any rivalry, but Goldstein acknowledges: "The commitment is to be in the top 10 in pediatric medicine." Goldstein, 47, built a national reputation during a decade at Yale studying the molecular mechanisms underlying disease, including abnormalities in electrical activity of nerves and muscles that can lead to ailments such as sudden infant death syndrome and life-threatening heart arrhythmias. His immediate mission at Comer is introducing staff and patients to the new 155-bed building, an angular structure of shimmering glass and steel that is more than twice the size of the old gray facility across the street. Lands' End founder Gary Comer and his wife, Frances, donated $21 million to build the hospital, one of the largest naming gifts to any U.S. children's hospital. Praise for the new hospital comes even from competitors. Dr. Kenneth Boyer, pediatrics chief at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center, calls Comer "magnificent." And hiring Goldstein was a smart move, said Dr. Harvey Cohen, chief of staff at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. "He's a brilliant young man," said Cohen, who taught Goldstein at Harvard Medical School and tried to recruit him to Stanford. "He's going to help take the University of Chicago to that next great level." Subscriptions >
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