Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital to Open Freestanding Hospital, Providing Pediatric Specialty Care for Southern Florida and the Southeastern U.S.
With 650 pediatric specialists under one roof, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital opens its doors as South Florida's newest, freestanding children's hospital with a unique "Power of Play" theme, a room service only menu, and other amenities inspired by kids.
Hollywood, FL (PRWEB) July 11, 2011
In its 19-year history, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital has earned the distinction of being the leading children's hospital in Broward and Palm Beach counties, and a regional pediatric specialty facility. It has operated within the structure of Memorial Regional Hospital, one of Florida's largest hospitals and the flagship facility of Memorial Healthcare System.
On July 21, 2011, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital comes of age and opens the doors to a new freestanding facility, which has been under construction for the past two years right across from its parent hospital. The new, $140 million children's hospital, along with its existing spaces inside Memorial Regional Hospital, will continue to serve the area with its leading-edge technology, compassionate care and the expertise of a large, diverse group of board-certified pediatric specialists - all in a setting specially designed for children and their families.
"One of the keys to our success has been truly listening to our patients and their families and incorporating their feedback into our plans," said Nina Beauchesne, administrator, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. "For example, our staff and members of the Family Advisory Council traveled throughout the country to visit other children's hospitals so that we could make this new hospital the best possible facility in South Florida."
Since its inception, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital has experienced tremendous growth and has evolved into a specialized tertiary care facility for children. From 2,000 admissions in 1992, the children's hospital now handles more than 8,000 admissions and observation cases annually. Its service area has stretched from South Broward County to the Southeast U.S. region. Annually, the hospital's Pediatric Transport Team provides transport to about 2,000 children in need of pediatric specialty care from other hospitals as close as Naples, Fla., to as far away as the Caribbean.
The freestanding Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital is a four-story, 180,000- square-foot facility that showcases an overall "Power of Play" theme with each floor displaying themes of Sports, Arts, Games or Dreams. Yet beyond architecture and aesthetics, it's a world of medical expertise that treats a range of maladies from hematology and oncology to pediatric heart and neurological diseases. It is connected to Memorial Regional Hospital via an elevated walkway with a total of 204 licensed beds, six pediatric operating rooms, radiology services and an entire floor dedicated to pediatric oncology care.
In addition, the "Get Well Network" provides access to television, movies, video games, the Internet and educational programs to each room, while the room service model allows patients and families to order food anytime of the day. Amenities aside, the new hospital has also instituted environmentally friendly strategies intended to improve performance and efficiency in use of water, energy and other resources, and the hospital is applying for LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification.
Services that will stay at the existing children's hospital include such critical care areas as the Wasie Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the pediatric intensive/cardiac care unit and pediatric emergency department and Level 1 trauma bay. Other programs staying in the existing structure are the Pediatric Heart Station and its heart transplant program and pediatric cardiac cath lab, pediatric inpatient rehabilitation, and interventional radiology.
Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., is a facility of Memorial Healthcare System, the fifth-largest public healthcare system in the nation. It is a patient- and family-centered care facility that meets the complex needs of children by providing a wide scope of inpatient and outpatient pediatric services supervised by the largest diversity of board-certified specialists in the region. As an advocate for children's healthcare and related causes, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital offers community education, child safety programs and the Conine Clubhouse, a home away from home for families of hospitalized children. For more information, visit jdch.com. To access the new hospital's web-based media kit, visit http://www.jdch.com/html/news-and-media/mediakit.html.
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For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/7/prweb8629984.htm
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