Banner Thunderbird adds more beds, treatment room to care for pediatric patients
GLENDALE, Ariz. (April 14, 2011) – Banner Thunderbird Medical Center will open a new 16-bed inpatient pediatric unit in its Children’s Center on April 26 to help ensure there are enough beds to care for an increasing number of children coming to the Glendale hospital for medical treatment.
The Children’s Center serves patients nine months to 17 years of age, and is staffed with doctors and nurses specifically trained to care for children.
The additional 16 beds will bring the total number of inpatient pediatric beds at Banner Thunderbird to 40. The hospital opened its first pediatric inpatient unit, a 24-bed unit, in January 2002.
“Our existing inpatient unit for children regularly operates at or near capacity, so these 16 new beds coming on line later this month will provide us some much-needed additional capacity to care for children,” said Barbara Cabrera, director of Banner Thunderbird’s Pediatric Services. “Families living in the Northwest Valley have come to prefer Banner Children’s Center and we want to be able to ensure we have a bed available when they need us.”
The new unit occupies 8,400 square feet on the hospital’s Lower Level, and required $1.5 million and took 10 months to complete. The project is part of a $290 million campus expansion project that has added nearly 200 beds, as well as new surgical suites, a new emergency department, and a state-of-the-art heart and vascular center to the campus at 55th Avenue and Thunderbird Road.
Procedures are performed in a separate treatment room in the new unit instead of in the patient’s room. This is done to help ensure that children feel safe and secure when in their rooms. The unit also has a spacious playroom filled with books, games and DVD movies, offering children a welcome distraction from their illness.
Kid-friendly artwork on the floor and walls takes patients and family “around the world” to all seven continents. The design elements create an eye-catching and colorful healing environment. The graphic designers, working with the hospital’s staff, anticipate that children will enjoy spotting the hidden images tucked away in the graphics.
About Banner Thunderbird Medical Center
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center is a 513-bed hospital owned by Banner Health—a nonprofit health system with 23 hospitals throughout the West.
Media contact:
Banner Thunderbird Public Relations department
602-865-5779.
