The much anticipated MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion opens this month transforming how care is delivered to children and women in the new 11-story state-of-the-art building that seamlessly integrates children’s care with obstetrical services.
The new children’s hospital and women’s pavilion is situated on the banks of the Ashley River, providing pediatric patients and expectant mothers some of the most stunning views of the greater Charleston area. Many patient rooms overlook the Ashley and Cooper Rivers.
More than five years were spent planning the new hospital with input from the community, family members, including teens who have been patients, along with physicians and nurses and other caregivers, who will provide care at the new hospital. Ground was broken in August 2016, and the new hospital increases the current hospital by 20 percent with 250 licensed beds.
MUSC chief of the Children’s and Women’s Health Mark A. Scheurer, M.D., said, “This is a hospital like no other. It’s over 624,000 square feet, and it will change the way we deliver care for women and children in South Carolina and the region.
“Patients and family are at the center of it,” he continued. “The rooms are bigger; the facilities are better. It’s going to match what patients and families deserve.”
The MUSC Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion provides care from the simplest to the most complex obstetrical conditions. The Labor & Delivery Unit includes 29 mother/baby post-partum rooms, five antepartum rooms and seven couplet care rooms, allowing mothers and newborn babies to recover together. The Pavilion, with two dedicated obstetrical operating rooms, also has the state’s largest neonatal intensive care unit with 62 private rooms. A dedicated “stork elevator” will transport women in labor from the main floor to the fourth floor pavilion.
The MUSC Advanced Fetal Care Center serves as a regional referral center and national leader in care for any woman and her family whose pregnancy is complicated by a fetal diagnosis that requires additional care and expertise either through management of the pregnancy or through specialized post-delivery care of mother or baby.
A rooftop helipad is connected by an express elevator to the Level 1 dedicated pediatric trauma center and nationally ranked pediatric ER. The helipad is engineered to accommodate the Coast Guard’s new Jayhawk helicopter, a 22,000 pound machine.
The children’s hospital features the most comprehensive, dedicated pediatric heart center in South Carolina. An entire floor is dedicated to the care of children with heart problems as well as an interventional program for non-cardiac surgical procedures.
Located on the top floor, this entire floor is dedicated to the care of children with cancer and blood disorders, serving both in patients and outpatients. Additionally three playrooms on this floor for teens and younger children will help to provide needed breaks to help meet the physical, social and emotional needs of all patients.
Empowering families as partners in care, the hospital provides access to kitchens, lounges, laundry facilities, showers and other conveniences. Expanded wireless capabilities will help to ensure families remain connected to outside sources and family members. Each floor contains a conference room for medical teams to consult and collaborate with families. The seventh floor features a centrally located cafeteria, so families can remain near their children’s rooms during meals.
State-of-the-art technology is at the heart of this hospital of the future. Access to Integrated technology with real-time location system to track patients, supplies and staff. The technology will allow the family to view care from outside the facility.
A 3,200-square-foot indoor play area, named the Jerry and Anita Zucker Family Atrium, allows children and their families to relax, paint, read and play games away from the sometimes stressful environment associated with patient care. Just outside the atrium is a 10,000 square foot magnificent garden and play area giving patient and family members additional space, sunshine and fresh air. Multiple play spaces throughout the hospital have been designed to serve patients and families.
To learn more about the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and Pearl Tourville Women’s Pavilion, visit musckids.org.
