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The University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital is now open in its new home on the West Bank. With its striking exterior and state-of-the-art interior, the new hospital is a place of hope for children and families facing childhood cancer and other illnesses. The hospital opened its doors on April 30 after months of final preparation and grand opening events for hospital staff, donors and the community.
Healing environment
As we know, many children and their families stay in the hospital for weeks and sometimes months at a time, so there was a great effort to create a home-away-from-home in the rooms and common spaces.
The new hospital boasts private, cheerful rooms that are 35 percent larger than the national standard and include a wall of windows and space for parents to sleep, store their clothes, work on a computer, and fix and share simple meals.
Passport to discovery
The new hospital also connects to the University’s mission of being “Driven to Discover” and chose to incorporate the theme, “Passport to Discovery” in the various common spaces.
For starters, there’s a large compass mosaic on the lobby floor. Then each level of the hospital highlights a different type of wildlife habitat and animal mascot. For example, bone marrow transplant patients on the 4th floor will see their turtle mascot take them through the “lakes” habitat. Each habitat theme is reflected in several places throughout the floor — from the backlit scenes that greet people coming off of the elevator to the animal silhouettes on patients’ room signs.
Most important, the new building fills a need for a space that is truly focused on children and families, says Joseph Neglia, M.D., M.P.H., physician-in-chief of University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital and chair of the Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics.
“We now have an outstanding physical space that reflects the quality of care we have been providing for years,” he says. “This new facility lets us offer families a whole new level of service.”
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