Construction of the new Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart is on schedule, with the new four-story facility expected to open in the spring of 2019 on Sacred Heart’s Pensacola campus. Sacred Heart is part of Ascension, the largest non-profit health system in the U.S. and the world’s largest Catholic health system.
More than $20.7 million has been awarded to Escambia County sub-contractors. Currently, 100 construction workers are onsite, and this will peak between 250 and 275 as the project progresses.
Upon opening, the new children’s hospital is expected to add 100 Sacred Heart jobs for the local community. This growth of healthcare services will also enable recruitment of new pediatric specialists.
“We are tremendously pleased with the progress being made on our new children’s hospital,” said Henry Stovall, president of Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola and The Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart. “While we did experience several brief pauses in construction to prepare for incoming hurricanes, our overall beautiful weather this past fall has enabled our crews to keep to the project timeline. We look forward to sharing this work with patients and community members in 2019!”
The Children’s Hospital’s basement walls and slab are complete, and the east side of the basement wall is being backfilled with dirt. Structural steel has been installed on the first floor, and parts of the first- and second-floor slabs have been poured. Work has also begun on elevators and stairwells.
Construction of the new four-story children’s hospital began on Sacred Heart’s Pensacola campus in March. The new children’s hospital will increase access to specialized pediatric and maternity care and consolidate inpatient pediatric services in one convenient location. The new children’s hospital will include a pediatric emergency department and trauma center, pediatric procedure rooms, 72-bed neonatal intensive care unit, medical/surgical beds, pediatric imaging department, pediatric satellite pharmacy, pediatric inpatient rehabilitation gym, child life playrooms, outdoor gardens and a new family-friendly dining venue. In addition to the Ronald McDonald House adjacent to Sacred Heart’s Pensacola campus, the Ronald McDonald Family Room inside the new children’s hospital will offer a playroom specifically for patients’ siblings, as well as a space for families to cook, do laundry and relax.
“This new children’s hospital will be a game-changer for the Gulf Coast’s sick and injured children,” said Stovall. “Our team witnesses some of the worst moments in these families’ lives — the diagnosis of a serious illness, the response to a tragic accident, the need for emergency surgery. While we do great work today, this new facility will enable us to do even better. The family experience inside our new children’s hospital will be more comfortable and cohesive, since everything they see will have been designed from the ground up with their needs in mind.”
Sacred Heart Health System and Ascension have committed $55 million towards construction of the new children’s hospital, and Sacred Heart has raised $21 million of the $30 million needed from community supporters in order to complete all phases of the expansion. To make a donation towards the new Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart, call the Sacred Heart Foundation at (850) 416-4660 or visit www.sacred-heart.org/foundation.
The Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart is a 117-bed facility that serves as the only children’s hospital in Northwest Florida. The Children’s Hospital provides quality, compassionate care to children, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay. For more information about the services available at The Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart, visit www.sacred-heart.org/childrenshospital.