New American Family Children's Hospital Opens its Doors
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MADISON – With laughter and music echoing through the brightly-colored halls, the American Family Children's Hospital opened its doors to the public on a sun-drenched summer day. And though the serious business of caring for young patients was soon to begin in Madison's state-of-the-art new children's hospital, family fun took center stage on July 29, 2007.Hundreds of families wandered the halls in a scavenger hunt; Bucky Badger and Ronald McDonald posed for pictures with children; and entertainers created a festival atmosphere with song, dance and face painting. Perhaps it was a fitting debut for this one-of-a-kind, $78 million facility, designed to be a refuge for sick and injured children and their families.
"Today, we can say proudly that we have a full-service children's hospital, right here in Madison," said Donna Sollenberger, president and chief executive officer of UW Hospital and Clinics. "Most families, thankfully, will never see their child hospitalized. Should the need arise, however – any child, parent, grandparent or friend who enters our hospital will be awed by this facility that is designed around a child's and family's every need."
"All Things Wisconsin"Designed with the theme "All Things Wisconsin," visitors encounter an almost Disney-like, small-town Wisconsin environment from the moment they step off the elevators. Tractor tire tracks lead you to the security office, with its crimped metal walls designed to look like a grain silo.
Just as the farmland gives way to the city while driving Wisconsin's countryside, a train station "Guest Depot" greets visitors as they turn the corner, along with a pharmacy and gift shop that has the look and feel of an old-time community drug store.
Colorful barber poles twirl outside the façade of a barber shop near a cobblestone alley, and a flashing movie theater marquee welcomes you to the Pierce Family Theater, where patients and families can take in a film.Just outside the theater, a faux sugar maple tree's full fall foliage towers above park benches and a fireplace in the main lobby's sunny atrium, as visitors round the bend to the Lake Michigan beach area – complete with a replica of the Fond du Lac lighthouse and footprints etched in the watery blue and sand-colored flooring.
The Wisconsin theme continues on every floor, with the interior design featuring farmlands, prairies, the North Woods and Badger sports.
"I was trying to think of a word to describe my reaction to this building – and I think it's 'magical,'" said Sollenberger. "I think it will really capture the hearts and the minds of not only our community, but most importantly, our patients."
Family-Friendly Spaces
As he toured the new 61-bed hospital for the first time, 5-year-old Paul Natzke stared in awe at everything from the aqua blue 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air that serves as seating in the lobby to the photos and artwork of Badger athletes in the Robert and Jean Rennebohm Diagnostic and Therapy Center Clinic."You have to see this room!" Paul excitedly told his mom, Kathie, as he deftly maneuvered his wheelchair through the halls. "It's Badger football!"
Paul knows a little something about what the inside of a children's hospital looks like. Diagnosed with spina bifida at birth, Paul was hospitalized 20-25 times at UW Children's Hospital for various surgeries and observations.
Kathie Natzke says the new American Family Children's Hospital is leaps and bounds ahead of the old UW Children's Hospital when it comes to amenities for families. The old children's hospital was housed within the UW Hospital and Clinics building – a "hospital within a hospital" that was built in 1979. At 125 square feet, the patient rooms in the old children's hospital quickly grew cramped for families who wanted to be with their children around the clock.
In the new American Family Children's Hospital, the inpatient rooms are double the size, including a family sleeper sofa in each room, which was redesigned by the manufacturer based on family feedback.
Each room also contains ample storage, a flat screen TV with a DVD player, and a workstation with a data jack and its own lighting – allowing parents to catch up on work without disturbing their child. Each room has a window view and measures 250 to 300 square feet."The room sizes – that's just huge to have a big enough room for families and friends to visit," says Kathie Natzke, of Belleville, Wis. "I really do think that helps the kids heal faster, having their families around them."
In the new hospital, patients' siblings, who may feel left out while their brother or sister is hospitalized, also get special attention. In Tyler's Place, siblings have a place to play and hang out with other children.
For Paige Natzke, Paul's 10-year-old sister, Tyler's Place would have been a welcome distraction when her little brother was in the hospital.
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"All I remember is sitting in the corner while Paul was in bed sleeping or something," says Paige. "Here in the new hospital, siblings have something to do. And it's a lot bigger place – it just makes it a little more fun."Andrea Johnson's 4-year-old daughter Makayla Weaver was brought to UW Children's Hospital when she was just 22 hours old, when a meconium aspiration blocked the newborn's airway. Complications led to the loss of Makayla's kidneys, and she received a kidney transplant at UW Children's Hospital in 2004.
During Makayla's hospitalizations, Andrea Johnson remembers having to run home to do laundry. With family amenities like laundry rooms and large kitchens where families can cook a meal, the American Family Children's Hospital offers many more resources, Johnson says.
"It's the little things, like doing laundry – that's going to make a huge difference to families," Johnson says. "And it's so big and bright and open – it's just a happier place."
A Community Effort
The six-story American Family Children's Hospital began coming to life about four years ago, and the project gained steam when American Family Insurance stepped forward with a $10 million gift to spearhead the "No Finer Gift" fundraising campaign. American Family ultimately contributed about $15 million, and a total of $41 million was raised in the community.
John Flad, chair of the American Family Children's Hospital Advisory Board, said he could not offer enough praise for the way the community backed the project.
"From the members of the business community to the kids' lemonade stand, people from every walk of life partnered with us to build this hospital," Flad says. "It really is a standing tribute to the incredibly giving nature of this community, the state, and the alumni of the University of Wisconsin."
A second phase of fundraising is also underway to build new pediatric operating rooms, a radiology suite and a 24-bed surgical inpatient unit. Once completed, American Family Children's Hospital will house 85 fully private inpatient rooms.
Unique Features and Expanded Services
The new hospital offers an array of amenities and high-tech features designed to enhance care, including:- Expanded Hospital School rooms and play areas, including a separate school room for children with cancer or those at higher risk of infection
- More consult rooms for families to meet privately with doctors
- A library-like Family Resource Center, where families can learn about their child's illness, use computers, check e-mail and meet other families
- The Kohl's Safety Center, a community resource center where families can buy safety products, such as outlet plugs and bike helmets
- The Robert and Jean Rennebohm Diagnostic and Therapy Center, a "day hospital" for patients undergoing sedation or procedures such as chemotherapy or dialysis
- Telemetry technology that allows children to leave their hospital rooms and have signals from their medical equipment sent directly to their nurses
- A lead-lined MIBG room for advanced treatment of a rare form of pediatric cancer
- Expanded rehabilitation rooms with physical therapy equipment and space for speech and voice therapy
- A bone marrow transplant suite that's specially air-filtered to help keep kids safe from infections
- Imaging rooms with twinkling starlight ceilings to offer distraction for children while procedures are done
- A Positive Image Center to help children deal with the negative effects of illness and treatment – such as scarring or loss of hair and weight changes
- Learn more about each floor in the American Family Children's Hospital Building Tour
"We've brought UW Children's Hospital's extremely advanced health care with us to this new building," says David Berry, American Family Children's Hospital vice president. "We've really just created a much nicer environment and spaces that are more conducive to healing."
Date Published: 04/04/2008
