Pediatric cardiac care unit moves to modern home
Stollery’s new facility provides privacy, additional facilities for patients, families
Children with serious heart problems and their families will have private rooms, cosy furniture and a sweeping view of the city when a new specialized intensive care unit opens in Edmonton next week.
The Stollery Children’s Hospital unveiled its new $16.1-million pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU) Tuesday, where staff and specialists will care for some of the sickest kids in western and northern Canada.
“I was blown away by the attention to detail in this space. It really is remarkable,” Infrastructure Minister Sandra Jansen said, standing in the sunlit curved hallway on the sixth floor of the Mazankowski Heart Institute.
The new 16-bed unit, which will open Dec. 12, replaces the current 12-bed PCICU next door in the Walter C Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre. It was a repurposed space, with all beds in one area and zero privacy or place for parents to sleep.
Kevin George said there was sometimes no chair to sit on as he and his wife perched by his infant daughter’s side.
While still in utero, George’s second child, Maddie, had a tumour that would need corrective surgery once she was born in 2012. After a successful surgery at three weeks, the family was preparing to leave the hospital when Maddie’s heart stopped. She had developed a rare form of meningitis. George and his wife Kim lived in the hospital for the next month, he said.
Every time a team of doctors entered the PCICU, he’d get anxious, wondering if they had news about Maddie.
Maddie died after a month in hospital. After having a second healthy son, the Georges also lost another daughter, Everly, who had a genetic condition making life outside the womb impossible. Born in 2015, she lived for just 10 hours.
The Georges joined the Stollery’s family advisory care team to give feedback to architects about how a good intensive care unit for children should look.
George said families should have a lounge away from the public, where they could share stories and support each other.
“Misery loves company,” he said with a wry smile.
Parent Karen Calhoun, whose son Jed spent his first, turbulent year in the Stollery, praised the homelike feel of the new unit. There are couches and chairs in each patient room, colourful patterns on the floors and walls, and a bathroom for family members to shower.
About 500 children a year will spend time in the Stollery PCICU — half of them babies, medical director Dr. Dominic Cave said. The new space will give children more natural light, helping their sleep and speeding healing. Families will be better rested to make decisions about their child’s care. Carefully controlled air flow and separate rooms will prevent the spread of infection.