Children's Hospital Colorado Grows – Again!
Less than three years after moving to a brand-new facility on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, Children's Hospital Colorado is building a new tower in order to treat more children in state and the region.
"It's been incredibly fulfilling to know so many parents and primary care physicians entrust the care of their children to us," said Jim Shmerling, DHA, FACHE, president and chief executive officer of Children's. "We're honored to be given the privilege of meeting the needs of the region's children, whether that need is to fix a broken arm or treat a complex childhood disease."
To meet unprecedented patient volumes, Children’s broke ground on a 10-story, 350,000-square-foot tower July 28. The new tower will add 124 beds, with the option to develop shelled space, bringing its total bed count to more than 500.
The expansion project arrived sooner than hospital leaders expected.
“Children’s is a healing place and all that we imagined for it is coming to pass – a little earlier than we had anticipated,” said Cathey M. Finlon, chair of the Board of Directors at Children’s. “When we planned and built the new hospital, we knew the community would embrace this new facility. We moved forward with caution and conviction and have found that more families than ever want to use our facilities.”
The new space includes additional support for cancer, advanced maternal fetal medicine center, heart and rehabilitation medicine.
Children’s expects the tower to be completed by the end of 2012.
The east tower addition at Children’s characterizes the rapid growth evident on the Anschutz Medical Campus and its surrounding areas. The University of Colorado Hospital recently began construction on a $400 million expansion and the Department of Veterans Affairs will break ground on a new hospital on the campus this year.
When complete, developers expect the Anschutz Medical Campus will employ 45,000 people.
This influx of employees and patients translates to greater opportunity for business development surrounding the campus. Community leaders hope to add more restaurant, retail and office space as the population grows.
Watch a newscast and video about the groundbreaking from CBS4.
Read about the expansion project in the Aurora Sentinel.
Read about the expansion project at YourHub.com.
