Cincinnati Children's recently unveiled its new Critical Care Building (CCB), a $600 million investment that involved three years of construction on the hospital's main campus in Avondale.
The 632,500 square-foot facility expands and enhances services and comfortability for children, including patients needing emergency care, newborn or pediatric intensive care, cardiac care, and bone marrow transplants.
"The Critical Care Building is a remarkable achievement in the 138-year-history of Cincinnati Children's," said Michael Fisher, president and CEO of the medical center. "We are grateful to serve children in our Avondale neighborhood and throughout Greater Cincinnati as well as children from all over the world."
Construction on the project has continued over the last three years, despite hang-ups caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic due to the importance of the CCB to Cincinnati Children’s — who, along with UC Health, led the charge last year in terms of response to the pandemic.
“It’s impressive how this project has persevered through, of all things, a global pandemic,” said Uptown Consortium President and CEO Beth Robinson. “I believe everyone involved saw the positive impact this will have on Uptown, city, state, and national visitors to CCHMC.”
The design of the CCB should, in part, be credited to the people of Cincinnati. With more than 250 Cincinnatians participating in an online community group to provide input for hospital staff to better understand the needs of patients and families, every detail was accounted for. Here are the results:
Visits to the hospital can be scary for children, especially younger ones. For this reason, Cincinnati Children's aimed to devise a more cheerful version of the typical hospital layout. A pair of handmade teal-colored giraffes mark the building's entrance. The giraffes, along with 1,100 other unique pieces of art, were created by professional artists, patients, families, staff, and local students. Interiors use a kaleidoscope theme, with movable parts that form beautiful patterns—and take kids' minds off being in the hospital.
As you progress further, you'll see that several departments have been relocated to the CCB, including all three of the hospital's Intensive Care Units, Bone Marrow Transplant and Complex Airway. Additionally, the eight-story building provides an extra 249 private rooms to the campus, all of which are 50% larger than current patient rooms.
The renovation saw a major Pediatric Emergency Department update as well. The unit tripled in size at 90,000 square feet, with the additional space being dedicated to improving workflow, team medicine, embedded imaging (MRI, X-Ray, CT, Ultrasound) and pharmacy. This is fantastic news for Cincinnati Children's and its patients as it operates one of the busiest pediatric emergency departments in the country, seeing more than 60,000 patients each year.
One of the building's most striking features is its use of spectral lighting. Developed by Cincinnati Children's researchers, spectral lighting is designed to mimic natural sunlight, supporting healthy sleep cycles and stimulating growth for newborns. This seemingly small detail can make all the difference for patients, parents, and staff alike.
Lastly, the expansion saw the addition of four new gardens:
A rooftop garden—patients will be able to visit by appointment with clinical staff.
A designated staff garden—employees can take a little time to refresh.
A reflection garden—families can get away and catch their breath.
A landscape garden—nearly one acre of space adjacent to the CCB will be developed into a park-like environment with benches, trees, walkways, and flowers. This is in collaboration with the Avondale community.
"This new facility, which is the largest expansion ever undertaken at Cincinnati Children's, is the result of a collaboration with our patients, families, staff, board, donors, and community,” Fisher said. “We are thankful to everyone who played a role.”
Staff will begin the process of moving patients into the new building in early November.