As I was breezing through the Sunday paper tonight, an article about the hospital caught my attention. It was one year ago this week that the hospital was dedicated and officially opened. This hospital is beautiful, through and through. It is a two-story, 71-bed children's hospital that crowns the top of University Hospital's new $150 million East Tower addition. The hospital was made possible by more than 8,000 donations, big and small, including Rochester businessman B. Thomas Golisano, who donated $6 million and was honored with the namesake. In total, the children's hospital cost $50 million....and well worth it, in my opinion!
The facility is chock-full of enhanced patient and family amenities, most notably spacious private patient rooms with furniture designed to give parents and family members a comfortable night's sleep without leaving their child's side. The private rooms are more than 250 square feet larger than the hospital's previous existing pediatric rooms, which were double rooms (dear lord...I'm having flash-backs to M9 at Memorial!). With the addition of the new two-story children's hospital, the amount of space dedicated to pediatric care went from 18,000 square feet to more than 87,000. The hospital treats children from 43 counties throughout New York State.
Floors also contain numerous age-appropriate playrooms, family lounges (where parents and visitors can prepare meals, relax, access computers) a Family Resource Center, laundry rooms, sleep rooms for parents of kids in the PICU, a solarium, a chapel, an exhibit center....and most importantly, a Tim Hortons and a Cold Stone Creamery (which just happens to be owned by our friends who own the Tim Horton's in Cicero!).
So what does this all mean for the patients and families? Honestly, more than I am able to express. In our situation with having a young child hospitalized, you are dealing with his sleep schedule, play schedule, seeking calmness, not to mention the whole privacy issues that you just don't get when you are sharing a double or god-forbid triple room with other sick people. Even down to the "amenity" of a private bathroom is something that can bring an exhausted mama on a roller coaster of emotions to her knees. When William was transferred to M9 at MSKCC (a relief from stepping-down from the POU) we had a double room and had a roommate for about half the time we were stuck there. Whether we had a roommate or not, adults were not allowed to use the bathroom in the room - it was for patients only. That meant, every time I needed to use the bathroom, whether it was first thing in the morning or the last thing I wanted to do before going to bed, I had to either leave William alone in the hospital room (which was only done if he was soundly sleeping...and even then my heart skipped a beat every minute it took me to use the bathroom) or take him with me to go use the bathroom at the other end of the hall. And guess what, sometimes the two bathrooms on the floor were in use (since parents were also using them to shower in!). So, if William was awake, I'd have to unplug his IV pole, gather it up with him, put him in the stroller, cruise down the hall, struggle with the bathroom door, stroller and IV pole to get us all in there.....and, well, have no privacy - lol!
In all, it is clear that a lot went into the design of Golisano Children's. I really can't think of a compliant about the physical space of the facility. (Now if only I can work on allowing parents the option of ordering through the cafeteria, since getting food is a whole other issue when you are up at the hospital alone with a sick child).
For all of those who donated, big and small, to make our local children's hospital the wonderful place it is, my heart-felt thanks go out to you!
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