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It will have a 9-ton, intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging system. And it will have a rubber ducky in every bath tub.
The new $340 million Le Bonheur Children's Hospital will be celebrated Tuesday with a grand-opening ceremony that will include tours, music and a parade narrated by Roscoe Orman and Sonia Manazon (better known as Gordon and Maria from "Sesame Street").
Hospital leaders have implemented a three-year strategic plan to get Le Bonheur to the top of national industry rankings. They said the iMRI and the bath toys are equally crucial ingredients to get them there. The two symbolize the advancement of medical know-how and the care and comfort of patients and their families.
"The new hospital is a vehicle," said Le Bonheur CEO Meri Armour. "It gives us the ability to put in both the family amenities and the technology that lets us do the high-end (medical) program work we do here. The old facility couldn't accommodate the growth anymore."
Many of the goals Le Bonheur has set to get to the top are based on annual ranking metrics used by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine's website said it examines hospitals' reports on patient volumes, numbers of nurses and similar measures to rank children's hospitals. Le Bonheur did not rank in the magazine's listing this year.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia took home top honors for its programs in diabetes and endocrinology, neonatology and pulmonology, three of the magazine's 10 categories. As the first children's hospital in the nation, the hospital has been ranked in the top two "as long as I can remember," said Madeline Bell, its chief operating officer.
"Being ranked as the top children's hospital and for all of our specialities has really helped us attract patients and talent and to retain talent here," Bell said. "It's also important for philanthropy because people want to give to a winning team."
Le Bonheur's signature programs are neurosciences, congenital heart surgery, orthopedic spine surgery and trauma.
The hospital is and has been home to many talented physicians and surgeons, many of whom are leaders in their fields. It is hoped that the new space and technology will help recruit new talent and raise the level of care and research in its medical programs, which will raise its ranks in the industry.
That 9-ton iMRI is an example. It allows surgeons to take pictures during surgery, so the patient doesn't have to be moved. Waiting days are cut and recovery times are shortened, which in theory provides better medical outcomes. The machine is the very latest in medical imaging technology and its room at the new Le Bonheur is "the kind you recruit doctors with," Armour said.
Several floors below the iMRI, Armour looked at a bath tub and smiled proudly. The tubs were suggested by Le Bonheur families over the years and having them there, she said, will make the hospital experience a little more like home.
"Baths are part of their rituals and this is an opportunity for them to live out a more normal family life," Armour said.
The tubs, and the rubber duckies the hospital will provide for each, are an example of a concerted push to "patient-and-family-centered care." The phrase has become a mantra at the hospital and throughout the Methodist system over the years. It means, basically, that patients and their families are treated like people first and patients second.
Looking for high marks in patient and family comfort, the new Le Bonheur will have all private rooms with pull-out, double-bed sofas in each, areas that resemble typical living rooms on each patient floor and kitchens where families can prepare meals among others.
Between the money spent on building the facility and the money spent on installing the latest and greatest equipment, Armour laughed when asked why Le Bonheur was trying so hard.
"It's philosophical, but I really do believe that children are the future," she said.
