“This is a historic time for Sacred Heart,” said Henry Stovall, president of Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola and The Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart. “Construction of the new Children’s Hospital is a massive undertaking that has required countless hours of planning and input from every department in our ministry. We are thrilled to be underway and to see the fruits of our labor at work on our campus.”
The new four-story children’s hospital is being built in front of the existing Children’s Hospital, extending from the current pediatric transport ambulance bay into the parking lot. Sacred Heart closed the paved parking lot and entrance to The Children’s Hospital and Maternity and Women’s Center on March 6.
Patients and guests coming to The Children’s Hospital or Maternity and Women’s Center are encouraged to utilize free valet parking available at the main hospital entrance with extended hours from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Patients may also park in the Ninth Avenue parking garage. Guests should then enter through the main hospital entrance, which faces Ninth Avenue, and proceed towards the lobby of The Children’s Hospital and Women’s Center.
The new children’s hospital will include a pediatric emergency department and trauma center, pediatric-dedicated operating rooms, neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric intensive care unit, pediatric oncology unit, medical/surgical beds, extended stay/observation beds, pediatric satellite pharmacy, pediatric inpatient rehabilitation gym and child life playrooms. In addition to the Ronald McDonald House currently on 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 without having to leave the building.
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.
Sacred Heart Health System and Ascension have committed $55 million, and Sacred Heart will raise the remaining funds from community supporters in order to complete all phases of the expansion. To make a donation towards the new Children’s Hospital, call the Sacred Heart Foundation at (850) 416-4660 or visit www.sacred-heart.org/childrenshospital.
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 offers a wide range of services to meet all of a child’s medical needs, from a pediatric emergency room and neonatal intensive care unit to pediatric intensive care, cancer care, rehabilitation and a medical staff of more than 120 board-certified physicians across 29 pediatric specialties. 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.
Construction of the new Studer Family Children’s Hospital has begun on Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola campus and is expected to continue for two years. The construction site has been fenced off, and the crew has begun clearing the site.
About Sacred Heart Health System
On the Gulf Coast, Ascension operates Sacred Heart Health System based in Pensacola, Fla. and Providence Health System based in Mobile, Ala. Together, these Ascension healthcare facilities have served Gulf Coast communities for more than 160 years and they employ more than 6,600 associates. Across the region, Ascension provided more than $113 million in community benefit and care of persons living in poverty in fiscal year 2016. Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. Ascension is the largest non-profit health system in the U.S. and the world’s largest Catholic health system, operating 2,500 sites of care – including 141 hospitals and more than 30 senior living facilities – in 24 states and the District of Columbia. For more on Sacred Heart Health System, visit www.sacred-heart.org.
