Children's Grows Again

Children's builds new East Tower

Less than three years after moving to a brand-new facility on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Children's Hospital Colorado is building an east tower in order to accommodate more children.

"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 Children's Hospital Colorado's 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.

Construction of the new tower is expected 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.

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.

Maternal Fetal Medicine joint agreement

On July 14, Dr. Shmerling and Bruce Shroffel, president and CEO of University of Colorado Hospital (UCH), announced a partnership agreement to create a center for advanced maternal fetal medicine. This collaboration, which also includes the University of Colorado School of Medicine, will offer state-of-the-art care for women with high-risk pregnancies and their babies. It will allow for rapid clinical intervention by some of the most renowned providers in the world and the multidisciplinary approach ensures the best possible outcomes for mother and child."

In the first phase of implementation, the center (housed at Children's) will focus on babies needing highly specialized surgical care within 72 hours of birth. Mothers carrying these high-risk babies may receive their outpatient care and ultimately deliver at Children's starting in early 2011. UCH will continue treating other serious neonatal conditions and high-risk mothers while also offering its routine labor and delivery services to more than 3,000 families each year.

Leadership at both hospitals is excited about the opportunity to grow the program. Currently, NICU and OB/GYN programs at both institutions are recognized for their extraordinary work and delivery of care. Both hospitals look forward to building a nationally-recognized maternal fetal advanced care model together. 

For more information about the joint maternal-fetal medicine center, please email uch-tchpartnership@childrenscolorado.org.

Children's expands at Saint Joseph Hospital

Children's recently added 6,865 square feet to its location at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver. The enlarged facility brings services close to home for families in Denver.

Children's services at Saint Joseph Hospital include:

• Emergency care for kids       
• Inpatient services
• Pediatric specialist care

New and expanded sub-specialty services include:

• Audiology
• Cardiology
• Dermatology 
• Diagnostic imaging
• Ear, nose and throat (ENT)
• Endocrinology
• Neurology/EEG
• Neurosurgery 
• Orthopedics
• Outpatient lab services
• Pulmonary
• Sports Medicine 
• Ultrasound
• Urology

For more information about Children's Hospital Colorado at Saint Joseph Hospital, visit our website.