Children’s Hospital celebrates completion of expansion project
After two and a half years of construction, Penn State Health Children’s Hospital is celebrating the completion of its three-floor vertical expansion. On Oct. 27, Deborah Berini, Hershey Medical Center president, joined Children’s Hospital leadership for ribbon-cutting ceremonies on each of the new floors.
“For the hundreds of thousands of children and families who live in the communities we serve, this means peace of mind and hope for a healthier future,” said Berini during the ceremonies.
- Take a virtual tour of the new floors.
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Staff tours of the new floors previously planned for Oct. 27 were canceled due to the rising numbers of positive COVID cases in central Pennsylvania. A video of the ribbon cuttings will be shared in the Manager Update on Thursday, Oct. 29.
Today, Children’s Hospital celebrated its new expansion publicly with an hour-long live, virtual grand opening, “Penn State Health Children’s Hospital — the Next Chapter.” Led by Berini, the event featured remarks from Steve Massini, Penn State Health CEO; Dr. Richard Legro, Obstetrics and Gynecology chair at Penn State Health; Dr. Sarah Iriana, Department of Pediatrics interim chair at Children’s Hospital; and Gov. Tom Wolf.
Penn State Football Coach James Franklin and “Hamilton” and “Frozen” star Jonathon Groff joined some patients and their families as special guests at the virtual grand opening event. Through taped recordings, they read sections of the new illustrated children’s book, “Becky and Kaia’s New Addition: A Tale of Penn State Health Children’s Hospital.”
Available now for preorder, the book highlights real Children’s Hospital patients and takes a look at the expansion through the eyes of the Children’s Hospital facility dogs, Becky and Kaia. It will be published in March 2021.
The $148 million, 126,000-square-foot expansion has added more pediatric beds for enhanced access to nationally ranked care in central Pennsylvania. It features state-of-the-art technology, a new Women and Babies Center, a 56-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the state’s only Small Baby Unit, created specifically for growth and improved brain development in premature babies.
In addition to the Women and Babies Center, the Labor and Delivery Unit and the NICU, which were located in the adult portion of Hershey Medical Center, are now at home on the seventh and eighth floors of the expanded Children’s Hospital.
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