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Meri Armour thanks Le Bonheur Associates who helped form a giant heart around the groundbreaking event area.

A vision five years in the making is closer to fruition with the groundbreaking of Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center’s state-of-the-art, 610,000 square foot children’s hospital. When it opens in 2010, Le Bonheur will double its current space for patient care, research and teaching. Designated to open in 2010, the new 12-story hospital will include 225 beds and have dedicated units for pediatric, cardiovascular and neonatal intensive care.

Designed around the needs of children and their families, this hospital is a true community project. Parent and teen councils had instrumental input on design features like room amenities, colors, and options for leisure and educational activities.

“Most of these families have children with chronic conditions of childhood, or they have special needs, so they are here frequently and stay for long periods of time,” explained Le Bonheur president, Meri Armour. “Our ability to hear what they think about where things are, and how it’s done is really critical to attend to their needs.”

Some of the feedback Le Bonheur developers received was surprising. They assumed parents would want to be separated by a partition wall for greater privacy, Armour said, but parents prefer to see their child and be able to confer with clinicians as they come and go in the room.

“We listened to our family partners’ council and they gave us a lot of great ideas – things we wouldn’t have imagined,” said Armour. “And we’re going to do every single thing they ask us to do.”

All patient rooms are private and designed to accommodate two parents with sleep space, desk space, and internet and phone options. The facility will feature multiple play areas, intimate family rooms, a mini-movie theatre, a magic room, and a large parent resource center with access to learning materials and patient educators.

Furthermore, families who need a break from the hospital can stay in a 25-room residential facility which is being built off grounds, across the street on Poplar Avenue. The FedEx Family House will give allow families the opportunity to be as whole as possible, Armour said.

An equally vital priority for the new hospital is increased critical care beds with overnight space for parents, a resource the current ICU is unable to accommodate. The new critical care units have overnight space for parents, in addition to its transitional care facility where they can spend essential time with their children while being trained on how to care for the little ones after they are released.

Le Bonheur’s commitment to making the community a healthier place for kids is further represented by their decision to “go green.” Developers had the ultimate goal of building a sustainable facility. Receiving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification was an obvious step toward demonstrating their high standards.

Armour’s motto: “No city can be great without a great children’s hospital.”

This $327 million hospital is the largest investment by a non-profit organization in a free-standing facility in Shelby County. Fundraising efforts in the community have brought in more than $82.5 million, nearing Le Bonheur closer to its $100 million fundraising goal, which they expect to reach by year’s end.

The new hospital, along with current business and academic partnerships in the community is allowing Le Bonheur to firmly root their mission in education, research and healthcare delivery.



March 2008

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