This story was originally published by the Ledger-Enquirer.
The first children’s hospital in Columbus opened Monday, culminating years of planning, fundraising and constructing the $28 million facility.
A crowd gathered last week outside the front entrance of the Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital, 616 19th St., for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the Piedmont Columbus Regional midtown campus. Bill, along with brothers John and Paul, founded Aflac, the Columbus-based supplemental insurance company.
The hospital is named in honor of the parents of Bettye Cheves, who along with her husband, Cecil, made the lead gift that generated $22.6 million in donations for the project. The rest of the money came from PCR’s foundation.
Generous donors
Scott Hill, chief executive officer of PCR, expressed his gratitude for such generosity from the Cheves and the other donors.
“I just want to thank them for their passion and their commitment to this project,” he said, “and for committing to leave a legacy that will live in our community for many, many years to come.”
Credit: Darrell Roaden
Credit: Darrell Roaden
Instead of driving to Atlanta or Birmingham, families in the Chattahoochee Valley now can get specialized pediatric healthcare and treatment for their sick or injured children in this state-of-the-art building. John Dale Hester, chairman of the PCR board, is one of those parents.
“My youngest son spent a month in Atlanta,” he said. “So I know firsthand how difficult it is on families.”
Bettye provided further evidence of the need for this hospital when she asked the crowd to raise their hand if they couldn’t get the healthcare they wanted for their child or grandchild in Columbus. Dozens of people raised their hand.
“This is why we need this facility, and this community was unbelievable,” she said. “Every single person we’ve talked to gave us what we asked for. … I just thank the foundation staff, everybody, the guys that built this hospital. They were working so hard. They were like bees just trying to finish this. … I thank all the nurses, the physicians, and we look forward to many more of those coming (to work at the hospital).”
Cecil called this project another example of the Columbus area filling a need in the community.
“Good things happen when people come together and work together for the common good,” he said. “So I just say thank you to everyone who helped build it, who donated to it, who helped create it, because it truly is a labor of love.”
Need for children’s hospital
According to the Children’s Hospital Association, such facilities are needed because regular hospitals are designed and built to focus on providing vital services for children, such as:
- Medication dosing and equipment sized for kids
- Extra time, additional monitoring and tailored communication
- Compassionate caregivers who understand the physical, mental and behavioral development of children
Cary Burcham, PCR’s chief nursing officer, put it this way: “This hospital was built with a lot of heart and soul, not to create a place for small adults. … This is a building for us to take care of children, and it’s colorful, it’s vibrant.”
Credit: Darrell Roaden
Credit: Darrell Roaden
Burcham noted a significant difference between caring for children compared to adults.
“When they get sick and they feel bad, they don’t want to lay in bed and moan and groan,” he said. “They want to get up and play. And you’re going to find areas in the hospital all over this building, where we’ve developed therapeutic play spaces, safe spaces where we don’t do any harm, cause any pain.
“We’re going to instill a sense of confidence in you as a parent when you bring your child in here and you’re going to develop a warm bond. Nothing would tickle me more than to see a child cry when it’s time to go. It should be a place like that.”
Special features of Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital
Project architect 2WR & Partners and construction contractor Brasfield & Gorrie renovated the former Doctors Hospital, which closed nine years ago, and built an addition to produce the 30-bed, 26-room children’s hospital comprising 77,137 square feet on five floors.
The lobby is designed as an homage to the Chattahoochee River, with wood, patterns and seating evoking the riverbank, as well as child-friendly décor. The artwork was done by local creatives.
Credit: Darrell Roaden
Credit: Darrell Roaden
Enclosed corridors connect the children’s hospital to other buildings on the PCR midtown campus.
Each floor in the children’s hospital features a theme based on a critter kids might find around Columbus:
- Turtle on the ground floor, which includes an interactive video wall and outdoor garden
- Lizard on the first floor, which includes a café, multipurpose activity room and outdoor playground
- Hummingbird on the second floor, which includes support staff offices
- Squirrel on the fifth floor, which includes intensive care unit, lactation room, playroom, lounge and food pantry
The third and fourth floors are reserved for future pediatric specialty clinics and expanded pediatric inpatient rooms. This second phase of the project hasn’t started.
Credit: Ledger-Enquirer
Credit: Ledger-Enquirer
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