Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital of Baton Rouge, La., is building a $230 million freestanding hospital near the medical center that now houses the facility. The pediatric campus is to open in 2018.
The six-floor facility will have double the surgical space and intensive care beds and more emergency department space, as compared with the current location. The Children's Hospital now is a hospital within Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center of Baton Rouge.
Patients, former patients, volunteers and others help celebrate the groundbreaking of the new Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital, during a February event. Among the participants is a VGO robot, sixth from right, which the children's hospital uses for telehealth and for connecting patients to their loved ones while they are hospitalized.
The new campus also will house a medical office building.
Unlike at the legacy site, the Children's Hospital will have a mental health suite in the emergency department. It will have more consulting spaces for families to meet with doctors and other members of the medical team to discuss their child's care and prognosis. All hematology and oncology services — inpatient and outpatient — will be on one floor; currently they are at two different locations. The new campus will have a family resource center where patients and their loved ones can take part in support groups, and where they can learn about their diagnoses, including with help from volunteers.
The hospital will feature décor that appeals to children of all ages — the hospital treats patients from birth through adolescence. The hospital is themed after the natural features of Louisiana, and each floor will reflect a different ecosystem and will have a different animal mascot. To promote continual learning, fun facts about the ecosystems will be incorporated into the design. Each floor will have play areas for the children and their guests.
Currently, the Children's Hospital is licensed for just under 100 beds and uses about 80, according to Children's Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shaun Kemmerly. The new site will have 80 beds and the capacity to grow to 130. A shelled floor will allow for this expansion.
Kemmerly said the new facility will be geared toward treating sicker children, including with the increased intensive care space. "This reflects how health care is changing," she said. "Kids come in sicker because pediatricians are now having families manage more conditions at home, and trying to avoid hospitalization. So kids who do come in, come in very sick."
Children's Hospital officials expect the new hospital to improve the facility's ability to attract specialists. Currently it has 60 pediatric subspecialists practicing in about 20 different specialties. Nicole Telhiard, vice president of patient care services at the medical center and administrator of the Children's Hospital, said increasing these capabilities will allow more children to receive care close to home.
Kemmerly noted that the Children's Hospital initiated its own pediatric residency program six years ago, a move that was part of the facility's transition from being a community hospital to an academic hospital. Also as part of that transition, the Children's Hospital has grown its involvement in research work. Kemmerly said that growth will continue at the new site.
The Children's Hospital is conducting a $50 million fundraising campaign to support the new hospital.