New hospital offers world-class health care for Saskatchewan children
On September 29, the first patients were welcomed into the pristine interior of the new Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital (JPCH). Situated on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, the much-anticipated facility has claimed prime real estate and a prime position in Canada’s healthcare landscape.
Four days before opening, the children’s hospital stood silent and waiting to fulfill its healing mission. All bed linens were tucked in and a few final touches were being applied. Beyond the facility itself, the fulfillment of that mission lies in the hands of a multitude of professionals. The 176-bed hospital will serve the province with 72 specialized pediatric physicians plus additional generalized pediatricians for a total of about 122 pediatric physicians working in over 20 areas of specialization.
The facility is the result of a deeply consultative process and a vision that has been nurtured for well over a decade. “It’s a spectacular building,” said Scott Livingstone, CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA).
“There’s nothing like having a purpose-built facility where you have patients and families and moms that were at the table from day one helping with the little details that make it much more patient-friendly.”
Community consultation reached into provincial school systems to uncover nature-themed details like what animal images appear on the walls and the colour and shapes of rooms. “The fact that it’s that customized to the people of Saskatchewan is incredible,” Livingstone said. An indoor playground, a theatre, a unique Child Life Zone and a classroom will help kids feel at home.
Enhancing patient experience was at the core of design philosophy. Each of the 65 rooms in the Maternal Care Centre is private, equipped with a pull-out couch and offers expansive river views. Moms stay in the same room for the total experience, from antepartum to postpartum care.
One of the biggest changes in models of care is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) says Corey Miller, vice-president of Provincial Programs for the SHA. Miller has served as project sponsor for the past couple of years and chaired the steering committee. The former NICU in the Royal University Hospital (RUH) housed a dozen bassinets in each of
The healing environment at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital is spectacular. The lighting is very soft and it’s designed to be a safe, soft holistic healing environment.
- COREY MILLER, SHA Vice-president of Provincial Programs
three pods, in an area about the size of a tennis court. A nurse could touch four bassinets without moving her feet, Miller says. “In the new model, each of those bassinets is in an individual room. Each one of those rooms has a family space with a pull-out couch.” Some double rooms are set up for twins or even triplets.
Separate rooms for each bassinet allow for individual family experiences. In the former setup, one family might be in the NICU for just two or three days for brief oversight of their baby, while another family may be in the end stages of losing their baby. “One family is celebrating life and another family is grieving life and they’re 12 feet apart,” says Miller. Now, families can have their own experience.
Enhancements to patient experience continue throughout the building. “There is space for families to stay in every individual room,” says Miller. There are sleep spaces, designated family spaces, nourishment rooms, a generous quiet area, and a teen lounge that is to be completed in November.
A new “Child Life Zone” is the first of its kind in Canada. In this 2,800 square foot play area provided through the Garth Brooks and Teammates for Kids Foundation, there’s a kitchen, a music room, video-gaming, a play ambulance and a ‘pretend’ MRI. “There are 13 of these across North America and we’re lucky enough to have one of them,” Miller says. Here, young patients are free to play, laugh, learn and relax.
Certain treatments that previously took place outside the province will now be available in Saskatchewan. Beginning next spring, renal dialysis for children will be available. Historically, families tended to move out-of-province to maintain thrice-weekly dialysis. Now they won’t have to. Sleep labs for children will also be available inside the province for the first time.
A new feature borrowed from a tour through Seattle Children’s Hospital is integrated induction rooms. These rooms help reduce anxiety for kids going into surgery. The family can remain with the child while anesthesia is administered before surgery, in a room just outside the OR, Miller says. Then a door slides open and the child goes off to surgery. It’s a calmer approach both for the patient and the parents.
New technology in the form of an EOS imaging machine does spinal imaging on patients with scoliosis or cerebral palsy. It spins around and produces a 3-D spinal image in about one second. “This is a tool that our orthopedic surgeons have been asking about for years,” says Miller.
Trauma patients entering Adult Emergency, now located in the JPCH, often need imaging work done. Previously a CT scan meant hallway and elevator rides on a stretcher. “Today, our medical imaging equipment is literally right across the hall from the trauma team in ER,” says Livingstone.
Other enhancements include a child-minding space near the main entrance where children can be cared for while parents take a sibling to an appointment. This feature is provided by the JPCH Foundation.
While acknowledging that JPCH is certainly the nicest facility the SHA has in Saskatchewan, Livingstone is quick to acknowledge that the care provided by RUH for 65 years “has always been great.”
And while you can call a facility ‘world class’, Miller says it’s really vision and operational strategies that make a facility world class. It will require continual improvement, ongoing research and development and bringing in the right people. “That’s going to be an ongoing challenge for the decades ahead of us.”