Medical center for kids meets critical need
Arizona Republic editorial
MESA, Ariz. (Oct. 31, 2009) Water walls, giant trees and light posts straight out of Narnia adorn the lobby of Cardon Children's Medical Center. There are goo-filled floor tiles that change color when people walk on them and a performance studio where kids can host fashion shows and video-game tournaments.
It's a whimsical, eye-catching building, the centerpiece of a $356 million expansion project at Banner Desert Medical Center in west Mesa. But Cardon is much more than that.
When the seven-story tower debuts Monday, it will have 248 beds - not quite double what the children's hospital offered before - a larger pediatric emergency room and its own radiology, cancer and blood-disorder, intensive-care and rehabilitation units.
The space helps fill a desperate need. There aren't enough beds for the nearly 1 million children who live in Maricopa County, much less the 1.5 million who are expected to live here by 2030.
