1. family and parenting
2. children

hopkinschildren’s
Summer 2012
The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center MAGAZINE
Celebrating
Bloomberg
Children’s
Center
The new hospital
launches a new era
in pediatric medicine
at Johns Hopkins
An Artful New World:
A fritted façade and supersize
rhinos and puffer fish
__________________
A Family-Friendly Hospital:
All-private rooms and meals
“At Your Request”
Through a Child’s Eyes
On Stage for Others
By Gavin Michel-Baird
When they asked me if I would
introduce Mr. (Michael) Bloomberg
at the dedication of Bloomberg
Children’s Center, I said “Yes.”
Gavin Michel-Baird is a third-grader
who lives in Edgewood, Md. He
introduced New York City Mayor
and Johns Hopkins alumnus Michael
Bloomberg at the dedication of The
Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s
Center and Sheikh Zayed Tower
at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where
he shared the stage also with His
Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan
bin Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for
whose grandfather the adult tower
was named. Bloomberg and his
sister, Marjorie Tiven, named the
Children’s Center for their mother.
H O P K I N S C HILD REN’ S | hopkinschildrens.org
Hopkins has really helped me, ever since I was born. I wanted
to help them so they could make other kids feel better, too.
For my speech, I practiced and practiced. It was a little tiring.
Stepping out finally onto that stage, with everyone looking at
me, was embarrassing. But I have been in plays at school. In
kindergarten I played the mouse king. So I knew I had to use a
big voice and sort of make an entrance.
After a while it was fun. Mr. Bloomberg was very nice. And
so was the Sheikh (Zayed). After I cut the ribbon for the building, the Sheikh took the scissors from me. I think it worried
him that they were very sharp.
They had told me confetti was going to come out of a cannon
and I really wanted to see it. But we were facing the audience and
it shot out from behind us over our heads. Mr. Bloomberg later
helped me gather all of it. Now, it’s in my closet at home.
At the end of everything, there was food and a party, but I just
wanted to go to Taco Bell. It’s my favorite. I have seen the new
building. I really like the big puffer fish and their little faces. There is a TV
studio there for kids, too. I liked watching shows and playing with Wii
when I was in the hospital, which was for a long time.
I wanted Ms. Lynn (Mattis), my nurse at Hopkins, to be my date at the
dedication. But she had to be in the clinic that day. I love her. She takes
care of me. And I like Dr. (Carmen) Cuffari, one of my doctors.
I was born with a hole in my stomach. But now I can eat and there are
no more (GI) tubes. I had those until I was 5. Thank you! n
summer 2012
Places to play, like this “teen room,” are among patient- and family-friendly
features of Bloomberg Children’s Center.
d e p a r t m e n t s

Celebrating our Centennial 1912-2012
100 Years of Discovery, Innovation and Caring

F e a t u r e s
Realizing the Promise
6
Will Bloomberg Children’s Center change
pediatric medicine?
Mat Edelson
The Art & Architecture
14
of Bloomberg Children’s
Center
Fritted facades and supersize sculptures of
an ostrich, puffer fish and rhinos?
Gary Logan
20
Flying High, Flying Low:
A Photo Journal
Through artworks, patients follow magical paths.
Photography by Keith Weller
2 Director’s View
from bath house to bloomberg
3 Hopkins Scrapbook
the day an era ended
Elaine Freeman & Edith Nichols
30 Inside Bloomberg Children’s Center
32 more space for a premier ed
A family-friendly environment, too.
34 niche cardiology services
Designed with collaboration in mind.
36 kids only imaging
Pediatric radiology finds a home.
37 a studio for cctv
A modern venue for engaging patients.
39 meals at your request
A new culinary wind is blowing at the Children’s Center.
40 People & Philanthropy
A Dedication for the Future
Gary Logan & Wendell Smith
48 family matters
Ask Parents and They Will Build It
Gary Logan
49 patient voices
A Quieter, Homier Home
Rebecca Manning
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
1
The Director’s View
From Bath House to Bloomberg
In looking ahead at how
pediatric medicine might
change in our marvelous new building—The
George Dover, M.D.
Director, Johns Hopkins
Children's Center
Given Professor
of Pediatrics
Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center—it’s
constructive to look back to our origins, which surprisingly were in a tiny two-story building known
as the “Bath House.” In 1896 baths were considered therapeutic, so a bath house was renovated for
children, making it Hopkins’ very first building for
children.
At the time we had no full-time pediatric faculty,
training or research program. But in 1903, Harriet Lane Johnston willed funds for a hospital for
invalid children, which resulted in the Harriet Lane
Home opening in 1912 and the beginning of the
first full-time academic department in pediatrics in
this country. The melding of pediatric research and
training with patient care followed and Hopkins
became known for pioneering pediatric treatments.
But by the late 1950s the Harriet Lane Home was
outmoded and drawings were drafted for the Children’s Medical & Surgical Center (CMSC).
Pediatric academic medicine at Hopkins thrived
over the next half century, but like its predecessor
the CMSC eventually outlived its space. Parents
cited a lack of amenities and faculty inadequate
research space. So, in 1998 plans ensued for a new
building with a new challenge—how would we sustain the innovation that sustained the Harriet Lane
Home and CMSC?
We decided to remain independent but also part
of this campus, which would allow us to do things
in pediatrics a freestanding children’s hospital
cannot do. We built in our capacity to do clinical
trials, while knowing that what distinguishes us is
not just how well we treat a particular disease but
the people we attract and the innovations in pediatric medicine we develop. In the future we may have
to look at preventing adult diseases as well as treating childhood diseases, which collaborative core
labs, rather than single labs, will facilitate.
Today we’re very grateful to all of our patients,
families, staff and generous donors who collectively
had a vision of what our new building should look
like. Now we need to continue to set the standard
for care by both attracting and teaching the very
best and by adapting our research to the new realities. With your help, we know we can do that.
Thank you. n
Hopkins Children’s is published
by The Johns Hopkins
Children’s Center Office of
Communications & Public Affairs
901 S. Bond Street / Suite 550
Baltimore, md 21231
www.hopkinschildrens.org
410-502-9428
Kim Martin
Director
Gary Logan
Editor
Wendell Smith
Assistant Editor & Senior Writer
Julia McMillan, m.d.
Peter Mogayzel, m.d.
Cozumel Pruette, m.d.
Medical Editors
Mat Edelson
Contributing Writer
Max Boam
Art Director
Abby Ferretti
Design
Keith Weller, Kevin Webber
Photography
Naomi Ball
Distribution
Printed in the U.S.A.
©The Johns Hopkins
University 2012
Give us feedback
Send letters to Gary Logan at
the above address or e-mail:
[email protected].
For more information
To read more on the clinical services
and programs covered in Hopkins
Children’s, visit hopkinschildrens.org.
How you can help
Call 410-516-4545
Cover photo by Keith Weller
2
H O PK INS C H IL DRE N’ S | hopkinschildrens.org
Hopkins Scrapbook
The
Day
an
Era
Ended
On the 100th anniversary of the Children’s Center, a look back at the
closing days of the old Harriet Lane Home and the deep sense of loss felt
by pediatricians who had worked there.
By Elaine K. Freeman and Edith Nichols
Courtesy Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives
To this day, John Littlefield remembers the
surprise he felt in the fall of 1973 when
he arrived from Boston to become director
of Pediatrics and found a group of wistful colleagues awaiting him. After a full
decade of updating its pediatric facilities,
Hopkins had just opened a new outpatient
and emergency center for infants and children to replace the crumbling 62-year-old
Harriet Lane Home where these pediatricians had worked. But instead of elation
over their modernized quarters, the doctors
were feeling nostalgia for what they were
losing—the legendary Harriet Lane Home,
scheduled for demolition in the spring.
Indeed, the Harriet Lane Home had
stood as a national icon. Named for its
benefactress, the niece of former U.S. President James Buchanan who had married a
Baltimorean, it had opened in 1912 as the
first center for academic pediatrics in the
United States. Offering specialized care for
children and infants, as well as research and
teaching, before pediatrics even existed at
most hospitals, the historic facility inspired
so much loyalty among pediatric residents
who trained there that they referred to
themselves as “Harriet Laners.”
“The staff and even the trustees wanted
some sort of commemoration,” Littlefield
says, “at least a wake.”
Littlefield, who’d been trained in internal medicine, not pediatrics, knew he
had to show empathy. And so, he quickly
organized an official goodbye. Turning to
famed pediatric cardiologist Helen Taussig,
who’d begun working in the Harriet Lane
Home in 1930, he asked her to put together
a 45-minute farewell. That program, billed
as the Final Meeting in the Harriet Lane
Home Amphitheater, took place on March
14, 1974, and was attended by more than
100 pediatricians, house officers, staff, and
trustees. Shivering in the unheated amphitheater, they sat on hard wooden seats
that served as bleachers—transfixed as five
pediatric giants recounted stories of life in
Harriet Lane through the years. Today, the
memories of people who were there that
day, and a transcript of the proceedings
that appeared in the January 1975 Johns
Hopkins Medical Journal, paint a picture
of an event that marked the end of an era.
The physicians Taussig invited to speak
had all been pioneers in their pediatric
specialties: 82-year-old Hugh Josephs in
hematology; neonatologist Alexander J.
“Buck” Schaffer; Leo Kanner, recognized
as the father of child psychiatry; medical
geneticist Barton Childs; and Taussig her-
Famed pediatric cardiologist
Helen Taussig put together
the program and started
things off at the Final Meeting in the Harriet Lane
Home, on March 14, 1974.
More than 100 nostalgic
Harriet Laners turned out,
shivering in the unheated
amphitheater.
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
3
Hopkins Scrapbook
The featured speakers at the
Final Meeting were all pediatrics pioneers: Helen Taussig,
Hugh Josephs, “Buck” Schaffer,
Leo Kanner, and Barton Childs.
self, a co-developer of the world-famous
Blue Baby heart operation.
“I remember being overwhelmed to
hear some of my heroes speak, especially
Buck Schaffer, who was Dr. Neonatologist to me,” recalls Alex Haller, pediatric
surgeon-in-chief from 1964 to 1997. “I sat
like a medical ‘bobby-soxer’ at the feet of
my mentors.”
David Valle, a serious amateur photographer who would go on to complete his
residency at Hopkins, appreciated that
something of a historical moment was
happening. He drove up with his cameras
from the NIH where he was working at
the time. Photos he took that day illustrated the event’s transcript in The Johns
Hopkins Medical Journal.
“It was a chance to sit with my friends
and mentors in a place that meant so
much to me during my residency [in the
1960s],” says John Neff, later medical director of Seattle Children’s Hospital. “I
would not have missed the event. That
very amphitheater had been filled every
Saturday morning for pediatric grand
rounds. It was a high point of the week. It
was terrifying for me as an intern to present a case there. We were expected to be
succinct and include all of the pertinent
patient information without notes.”
“Nostalgia,” postulates Neff, “is built
around valuable and memorable experiences that can never be repeated.”
4
H O PK INS C H IL DRE N’ S | hopkinschildrens.org
My colleagues and I may have grumbled at times
about small budgets, poor equipment, and shabby
quarters, but we were grateful for the one magnificent gift which outweighed everything else—
the opportunity to work unhampered.
– Leo Kanner, M.D.
For Larry Pakula, who’d been on the
house staff starting in 1957, the setting
also brought back the hours he’d spent
right there being exposed to his professors’ thinking as they debated and argued
at grand rounds. “Then we’d all go on to
the Doctors Dining Room for coffee. It
was a great time,” Pakula says. But the
Final Meeting “brought sadness that such
intimacy was disappearing in medicine.”
Taussig opened the program by introducing Hugh Josephs, who had interned
under John Howland, the Harriet Lane
Home’s chief from 1913 to 1927. What
Josephs made clear were the changes that
had occurred in 60 years in medicine itself.
“Perhaps the most striking thing about
the beginning,” he told the group, “was
the lack of conveniences and equipment.
There was no clinical laboratory to which
one could send specimens for examination. Each intern did his own bacteriological work. Hematology consisted of a white
count and, if indicated, a hemoglobin de-
termination. Blood chemistry was about to
be invented as a part of research.”
Josephs described typical cases from
those early days: “Diarrhea was rampant
in the summer.” The successful understanding and treatment of this condition,
he said, “was the first great contribution of
the workers at the Harriet Lane.” Pneumonia was the disease of winter. “We had no
drug for that. We would wrap the babies
up and put them out in the cold where
they generally did well.” In the fall, there
was typhoid. “The city water was safe,
but these children had been with their
parents picking fruit in the country and
drank country water. Congenital syphilis,
we saw at any time. We could recognize
that across a room in a crowd.” Conquering rickets, Josephs said, was the second
great triumph of Harriet Lane, “and for
that very reason, largely unknown to you,”
he told those assembled.
Next up was Schaffer. “I came here
feeling rather joyous and happy,” he said
Hopkins Scrapbook
Harriet Lane Home
Courtesy Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives
to the group. Sitting in this room filled
with pleasant memories, but faced with
the imminent demolition of the old Harriet Lane Home, “I now confess to feeling
something more intense than nostalgia.”
He noted that he had “lived right smack
in this building for four full years,” working “in the wards every morning and in
the dispensary every afternoon. I spent
the noon hour almost every day in this
very amphitheater taking part in the staff
conferences led by my remarkable chiefs.
And I slept here, that is, until the alarm
bell rang. We even took all of our exercise
right here. The lone tennis court was right
next to the HLH.”
When 80-year-old Leo Kanner rose to
speak, his reminiscences of his years as a
Harriet Lane faculty member from 1931
to 1959 were emotional.
“I have seen palatial hospitals compared
to which the Harriet Lane was a dump,”
Kanner said. “I have lectured and listened
in resplendent modern halls compared to
which the one at the Harriet Lane is the
poor replica of a medieval contraption.
Why is it, then, that in such surroundings I and many others thrilled at the
thought of working at the Johns Hopkins
Hospital and look back to our years there
with unadulterated affection? ... My colleagues and I … may have grumbled at
times about small budgets, poor equipment, and shabby quarters, but we were
grateful for the one magnificent gift which
outweighed everything else—the opportunity to work unhampered, to develop and
pursue our curiosities, to test our theories,
and at all times to be true to ourselves.”
Among the speakers, 58-year-old Barton Childs represented youth, but even he
waxed nostalgic. “I’m delighted that we
are using this room,” he said. “We’d have
meetings here every day, and it was a place
where you could be sure that you would
see your friends and colleagues repeatedly.
The only other place where that happened
was in front of the only elevator in the
building. And it was slow.”
Did the Final Meeting achieve the effect
Littlefield had hoped for? Childs’ closing
remarks addressed that point: “I think
it’s wonderful that we had this meeting,
and I think it is a splendid thing that Dr.
Littlefield proposed it. Not all new department chairmen would have the sensitivity
to think about the feelings of people who
had been in such a place, and I’m not sure
that all new department heads would have
had the self-assurance to be willing to sit
around and listen to stories of the feats of
the giants who preceded him.”
“It was the right way to go,” Littlefield
admits today. “A good opening gun for a
new era.” n
This article first appeared in Hopkins Medicine
(Winter 2012).
“Harriet Laners”
Forever
The Harriet Lane Home was
razed in 1974, but its name
and what it represents in service and teaching have been
preserved, insists Children’s
Center Director George
Dover: “The Harriet Lane
Clinic, open and running for
100 years, is still serving the
children of East Baltimore.
Our training program always
has been called the Harriet
Lane Pediatric Residency Program, and its graduates will
always be ‘Harriet Laners.’”
The residents also continue
to update the famed Harriet
Lane Handbook, now available not just in print, not just
online, but in a searchable
“unbound” version.
And this past spring, when
the Children’s Center moved
from the Children’s Medical
and Surgical Center to the
new Charlotte R. Bloomberg
Children’s Center, Dover’s
exhibit of the history of Pediatrics at Hopkins, starting
with the Harriet Lane Home,
moved with him—along with
the copper clad doors from
the old, slow elevators. n
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
5
Realizing the
Promise
by Mat Edelson
6
H O PK INS C H IL DRE N’ S | hopkinschildrens.org
O
n the evening of April 12th, the Mayor of New York City stood before more than
1,400 dignitaries, donors, and doctors. They had all gathered for the dedication of
The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center, and His Honor, Charlotte’s son,
Michael Bloomberg, was in fine form. In tones both hopeful and bar-setting, Bloomberg spoke
of the promise of the impressive new 12-story edifice. “If this center will bring the youngest
and most vulnerable patients the kind of care and comfort that they need; if it will increase
the knowledge and experience of the greatest doctors and teachers; if it will inspire other
institutions to do more and do better,” said Bloomberg, “then we all will be happy.” So
what will it take to make all those ‘ifs’ go away? And how far can a new Children’s Center
take Hopkins down that path?
The Charlotte R. Bloomberg
Children's Center and, at left,
neighboring Sheikh Zayed
Tower.
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
7
onsider what may eventually be
called, simply, “The Choice.” When
the history of this clinical building is
written in a few generations, of all the
decisions that will have woven its hopefully
successful tale, perhaps none will have been
more critical than the judgment to integrate the new children’s hospital into the
existing East Baltimore campus.
The choice of whether to go freestanding or remain physically part of
the medical community was a matter of lengthy debate. According
to Children’s Center Director
George Dover, several off-campus sites were on the table, including
a potential “Super Center” that would have
combined the institutional knowledge and
experience of both Hopkins and the University of Maryland in a central downtown
location.
Dover well understood the allure and
prestige of a move to a freestanding structure. He notes that many of the country’s finest care centers for children have
stand-alone status, including Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), D.C.’s
Children’s National Medical Center, and
Wilmington’s (DE) Nemours/DuPont
Hospital for Children.
Dover could have pushed in that direction, but feared that achieving breakaway
status would negatively impact the kind of
visionary medicine he felt bore the Hopkins stamp. In Dover’s mind, it came down
to a single priority: Be the best, or be the
biggest. From that vantage point, the call
practically made itself. “We never designed
this place to be the biggest,” says Dover. “In
fact, the number of beds in this building is
The fact that we stayed
in this environment is the
major thing that will allow
us to innovate. Sometimes
it’s not what you do that’s
important, but what you
don’t do.
– George Dover, m.d.
8
H O PK INS C H IL DRE N’ S | hopkinschildrens.org
smaller than D.C. Children’s, CHOP, and
DuPont, our major competitors. We didn’t
even try to get where they were.”
Dover says limiting size directly affects
quality of care, both now and in the future.
Pushing up the bed count strictly to pump
up the volume of patients could, in Dover’s
opinion, fundamentally alter the Children’s
Center’s century-old mission. “If we hired
faculty to serve those additional beds, and
they were working 100 percent of the time,
clinically, they wouldn’t be innovating,
they’d just be keeping up with the clinical
demands,” Dover says. “We still want to
hire physicians who can do both research
and clinical work, but if we grow too big,
our faculty won’t have the time to do both.”
To Dover, freestanding status would
have limited the fertile ground for seeding
such breakthroughs, the research equivalent
of moving from a beautiful botanical garden to a rooftop herbal planter. Dover cites
the thoughts of the last Children’s Center
director who opened a new hospital, Robert
Cooke. In 1964 Cooke, in his dedication
speech, worried that moving into the larger
CMSC could trigger rapid growth, create
silos, and weaken pediatrics’ long-standing
reputation for collegiality with their adult
medicine counterparts. “(Cooke said) that
the culture depended upon people being
close to each other, bumping into each
other,” to create and nurture ideas, says
Dover. “That without this closeness, the
‘aura’ around pediatrics could be threatened.” That concern resonated a halfcentury later as Dover contemplated the
Children’s Center’s path. He decided to
stay on the road well traveled.
“The most important structural thing
that will allow us to continue to innovate is
being connected to the rest of the hospital,”
he says. “Those eight stories that bridge the
children’s tower and the adult tower; the
fact we’re sitting on the same parcel as the
Dome, across the street from the School of
Public Health, down the block from the
basic sciences and the School of Medicine,
across the street from the new Armstrong
Education building, and the fact that we
stayed in this environment is the major
thing that will allow us to innovate. Sometimes it’s not what you do that’s important,
but what you don’t do.”
This environment is so stimulating, so rich, it feels so freeing.
– patrice brylske, director of child life
This continuing connection and sharing
with adult medicine can be seen literally at
the new hospital’s front door, where the Pediatric and Adult Emergency Departments
stand side-by-side. But there’s more than
symbolism at work here; there’s a direct
benefit to pediatric emergency cases.
“We put CT scanners, MRIs, and
trauma bays between the Adult ED and
the pediatric unit,” says Dover. “We don’t
have enough patients coming solely to the
pediatric unit to justify that, but when you
combine the adult patients and pediatric patients it makes sense. So we can actually take
some of the present technology and bring it
closer to the bedside because we’re willing
to share it with our adult colleagues.”
The structure also offers a unification
of sorts, which could well amp-up synergies between pediatric specialties. Between
the modern David M. Rubenstein Child
Health Building, opened in 2006, and the
bridge-connected Bloomberg Children’s
Center, nearly all of the pediatric clinical
services have been joined together, or as
Dover puts it, consolidated in a more focused fashion.
“When you decide to build a building
across the street exclusively for pediatric
outpatients (Rubenstein), when you decide to build a tower exclusively for pedi-
atric inpatients, one of the things you do is
bring the pediatric community even closer
together,” Dover says. “Giving a sense of
identity to pediatrics which will attract all
these wonderful people into our building
is a great idea, and because we’re so close
to the adult side, we’re not separating ourselves. Once we made that choice, we began
to see the opportunity to do some remarkable things.”
In 2001, just as plans for the new Children’s Center were in their embryonic
stages, the Institute of Medicine laid down
a formidable gauntlet. Their report entitled:
Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health
System for the 20th Century, didn’t mince
words. It condemned American medicine
for being unresponsive to patient needs, uncoordinated in its application of care, and
unnecessarily unsafe.
The IOM’s report challenged institutions to improve in six areas and created
a new buzzword for hospital administrators and faculty: Patient-Centered Care, or
as the IOM put it, “providing care that is
respectful of and responsive to individual
patient preferences, needs, and values, and
ensuring that patient values guide all clinical
decisions.”
To say that the phrase—adapted to
the more universal “Patient- and FamilyCentered Care”—has become the single
guiding principle of the design and function of the new Children’s Center would
be neither understatement nor hyperbole.
There’s a microeconomics term called “The
Second-Mover Advantage,” which may
best explain where the Bloomberg Children’s Center stands as it opens its doors.
Though Hopkins never claimed to be the
first institution to practice patient- and
family-centered care, they’ve used their
“second-mover advantage” to learn from
others’ successes (and mistakes) in the
field. Pediatric faculty, staff, and administrators made numerous trips to facilities
across the country, gleaning a multitude
of ideas and creating a master “wish-list”
of patient-centered initiatives.
The result at this moment may well be
the gold standard of patient-and familycentered care. Beautiful? Yes, so far as that
term can apply to any structure made of
concrete, steel, and glass. Lots and lots and
lots of light-giving glass. But what’s most
impressive, from its outer skin to its inner
wiring, is how form and function combine to create a third, far more powerful
element: Opportunity.
It’s impossible to discuss the new
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
9
The CCSR is going to
welcome the family in.
It’s what we’ve always
wanted to do, but in
the past it wasn’t ideal
because you had to
have somebody else
watch your patient
while you got the
parent.
– christy richter, r.n.
building with faculty and not have words
such as “opportunity” and “promise” pepper their conversation. To a person, they
see the structure through their professional
prism and glimpse new ways of healing.
Call it the potential beyond the amenity,
but it’s everywhere one looks. For Child
Life Director Patrice Brylske, those playful, oversized sculptures, the hundreds of
pieces of fascinating art that dot the walls,
the colorful playrooms on each floor, are
more than just a delightful aesthetic; each is
a potential conversation starter with a child,
an entree for building trust and taking fear
out of the hospital experience, which leads
to better healing.
“The old building restricted a lot of the
lovely things we wanted to do for patients
and families, but this environment is so
stimulating, so rich, it feels so freeing,” says
Brylske. “Now we have to challenge ourselves to use what’s in this beautiful building to support our work.”
Part of her vision involves using the
Great Room—a two story gym-size facility on the 11th and 12th floors—and other
open spaces to expand Child Life’s creative
arts program. “We have such diverse space
now that we can accommodate a menagerie of artists, from music and art to dance,
poetry and drama, elements that we didn’t
have the space for before, to have that quality interaction with patients and families.”
Brylske also mentions the private rooms
that are the standard accommodations as
being of great benefit to engaging children
in play, especially those who aren’t mobile.
The 205 private rooms are cited time and
10
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
Christy Richter, R.N., with Clinical Customer Service Representative Keya Keys.
again by staff as perhaps the key central element in improving all aspects of patient
care. Many are quick to point out the
family-friendly details such as on-demand
room service, family lounges with microwave ovens and overnight beds. Pleasing
amenities to be sure, but purposeful as well;
keeping families on-site longer and close to
their loved ones has numerous ancillary
benefits.
Sally Radovick, Director of Pediatric Endocrinology, sees the private rooms as offering the ideal educational space for parents
who suddenly have to cope with a child’s
life-changing illness. She points to children
admitted because of life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis, often the first sign that
they have Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes.
“An important aspect, during the acute
phase, is to begin teaching (chronic disease
management),” says Radovick. “Learning
about insulin dosing, what type I diabetes
is, nutritional support…it’s critical for this
initiation of self-care for the chronic state.
Now, parents can stay with their child in a
single room round the clock, and they can
learn from the nursing staff and diabetes educators how to take care of this child, how
to give the insulin injection, and participate
in carbohydrate counting each meal, which
was potentially more difficult to do in a
room with two or more children.”
Director of Pediatric Nephrology Barbara Fivush also credits the private rooms
for fostering better staff-family/patient conversations. In just the short time the hospital has been open—the official start date
was May 1st—Fivush says she can see and
hear the change.
“Our service has many chronically-
impaired patients with complicated emotional problems…the conversations can
get pretty detailed, and I think we felt uncomfortable (in multi-family rooms) talking about their care,” Fivush says. “Now
we have the privacy to really get to spend
time with our families, which promotes the
ability to communicate better because you
don’t have to be concerned about who is
listening and who else is in the room.”
She adds, “I’ve just been on service in the
new hospital this week, but I’m very impressed with the conversations we’re having, about non-adherence, why they got
kidney failure from a certain drug, why that
drug was given to them in the first place…
so many topics that are not naturally easy
to discuss unless the environment is open
to that.”
Private rooms also increase patient safety,
a key element of the IOM’s pivotal report.
“With private rooms, you don’t worry
about cross-infection from roommates,”
says pediatric pulmonologist Beryl Rosenstein, former long-time vice president for
Medical Affairs at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In the old building, “we had to move patients around because of infection control
issues. Now it’s simple; every patient is in
their own little cocoon.”
And many systems have been built
around preserving the sanctity and safety of
that little cocoon. Marlene Miller, director
of the Division of Quality and Safety, notes
that drug delivery has been completely revamped from stem to stern. The pediatric
pharmacy is five times larger than its predecessor, there are separate rooms with separate pass-throughs for IV meds, and quiet
space for the pharmacists to do their dosage calculations without being disrupted.
Also, the medication distribution system
has been redesigned with more frequent
delivery of meds, more frequent removal of
the discontinued meds, and bedside delivery of medication so there’s less distraction
for the nurse.
“She’s not in a med room with five other
nurses all getting meds for their patients,”
says Miller. “Her patient’s meds are right
by the bedside.”
Keeping the nurse with their patients,
especially those who are critically ill, is a
win-win result of another amenity, Clinical
Customer Service Representatives (CCSR).
In the past, PICU and NICU nurses would
often be called away from their patients to
meet families and instruct them on proper
safety protocols before entering the rooms.
Now, they can stay by the bedside, as the
CCSR staff greet families at the entrance
to each unit and prep them for their visit.
“The CCSR is going to welcome the
family in, show them how to wash their
hands, and walk them down to the patient
room,” says NICU nurse Christy Richter.
“It’s what we’ve always wanted to do, but
in the past it wasn’t ideal; you had to have
somebody else watch your patient while
you got the parent. That wasn’t really welcoming for anyone. But now their anxiety
level will already be lower when they enter
the room. And their hands will already be
washed so we can get right to ‘here’s what’s
going on with your baby.’ The continuity
is just going to be better.”
Continuity. Safety. Quality of care, notably Patient- and Family-Centered Care.
Modern medicine lives by these buzzwords; together they form the mantra by
which the new Bloomberg Children’s
Center will attempt to create a standard
of care that would make the IOM proud.
You go into it with
a lot of humility and
insecurity, really,
about where the
world is going, but
you learn lessons for
the future from the
lessons from past
experiences.
– Ted chambers,
pediatrics
administrator
That’s as of today. But what about medicine 10, 20, 50 years from now? Will the
new Bloomberg Children’s Center still be
going strong when our children have children, or will time have passed it by? Put
another way, will the faculty and staff
have made their mark on medicine
in Bloomberg Children’s Center,
much as they did in the CMSC
and Harriet Lane? Or could
this next era for the Children’s
Center become a grand experiment that ultimately yields
disappointing results? If history is any indication, it’s
hard to imagine the latter,
especially given the thousands of planning hours
put into envisioning the future of pediatric medicine.
Still, playing clairvoyant is a
daunting task.
“You go into it with a lot
of humility and insecurity,
really, about where the world
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
11
With a live video feed from the OR, the upgraded echocardiography suite gives pediatric cardiologists like W. Reid Thompson, left,
and Phil Spevak the advantage of interpreting images for surgeons in real time.
is going, but you learn lessons for the future
from the lessons from past experiences,”
admits veteran pediatrics administrator
Ted Chambers. “One of the advantages
Dr. Dover and I have is that we’ve been
here for some time, so we’ve built up experiences that lead you to how you would
shape the building and the future of the
Children’s Center.”
Indeed, a consulting group hired early in
the process strongly suggested that Hopkins build a far smaller inpatient children’s
hospital than what Dover and Chambers
eventually delivered. The consultants
based their recommendation on national
data which showed pediatricians across the
country were doing a better job at keeping kids from getting sick, and inpatient
admissions were dropping.
They thought they were seeing the big
picture; Dover and Chambers thought
otherwise. Pediatric cases, especially
chronic ones, were getting more complicated. Numerous specialists and services
were required, often beyond the scope and
resources of most pediatric centers, but
not Hopkins. So, by their thinking, while
many centers will be seeing fewer inpatients
in the years to come, Bloomberg Children’s
Center will thrive by offering top-notch
12
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
care to the most complex of cases.
Physically that means having a building
with the flexibility to handle those cases
now and in the future. Expanded dedicated pediatric OR suites, designed to fit
the specific needs of subspecialties including neurosurgery and cardiology, are both
state-of-the-current-art and adaptable to
technology that at least has been glimpsed
on the horizon.
This lab is really set
up with good hardware and software
that has the capacity
of seeing an image
anywhere, at any
time, from anyone.
– phil spevak, M.D.
“We’re going to be able to integrate robots into the system; the rooms are made to
accommodate those kind of advances,” says
neurosurgeon Ben Carson. “The only reason we don’t use robots right now in neurosurgery is they’re not quite fine enough.
But once they become fine enough and
delicate enough, the kinds of things we’ll
be able to do will be mind boggling.”
Even the air that’s breathed throughout
the hospital has the future in the mind.
“The whole building is HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filtered. The air is
cleaned in a way we never had in the old
building,” says Chambers. Such filtering
not only lets immune-compromised children stay safer, but it’s vital to emerging
therapies.
“The way the air handling system works,
you can administer a drug in a certain
room and it doesn’t leak out into the corridor or other areas,” Chambers says. “With
gene transplantation, one of the lessons
we learned is we needed a very special air
handling system to administer the gene,
because you didn’t want these genes just
floating around anywhere.”
There’s little doubt that as technology
evolves, so too will the concept of the traditional children’s hospital. Expertise that
is regionally based is on the verge of having
a national and global reach, and Bloomberg Children’s Center is set up for that
emerging world of telemedicine. Cardiologist Philip Spevak has built a NASA-esque
imaging command center that coordinates
numerous imaging modalities both in-
Nursing in a
New World
house and to satellite sites to come.
“This lab is really set up with good hardware and software that has the capacity of
seeing an image anywhere, at any time,
from anyone,” says Spevak. “That’s important in clinical care because expertise varies
from center to center and pediatric cardiology program to program, and you even
have expertise here in say, congenital heart
cardiac imaging. So we can be an expert
consultation service (to other centers) in a
minute. We’re also using our center to train
technologists at other hospitals.”
Ben Carson sees a similar technological outreach from OR to overseas coming down the road: “The new operating
rooms are very technologically advanced.
I did nine cases last week, and to be able
to record what you’re doing, with just a
simple maneuver, have it sent to a central
source where you can then upload it to your
computer in your office, make slides, do
various presentations, makes access to this
information to other people much greater,
so now it’s not just what you’re learning,
it’s what you’re able to transmit to others…
the fact that we’ll be able to communicate
with medical centers in Nigeria, in Israel,
in Dublin, in South America, in New Zealand, this is the wave of the future.”
Guaranteeing that future will take equal
parts money and new faculty, and the new
Children’s Center may well play a key role
in attracting both researchers and trainees.
“The National Institutes of Health is
extremely pleased we have this new opportunity,” says Pediatric Allergy & Immunology Division Chief Robert Wood.“They
now know we have the space and resources
to conduct our studies in the best possible
environment, which can only help to secure
new funding opportunities.”
“The opportunity to show current and
future residents that the space in which
they would be caring for patients conveys
the high level of respect that this building
does for patients is a wonderful message
for us to be sending to applicants,” says
Julia McMillan, vice chair for Education
and director of the Pediatric Residency
Program. “And for the residents who are
here, now (through the transition from
the CMSC) it says we knew the old space
didn’t convey the respect we felt for our
patients, and we fixed it. It took us a while,
but now we’ve fixed it; it isn’t just something we talk about, it’s something we actually did.”
It’s a change that could make history. n
before moving into The Charlotte R.
Bloomberg Children’s Center, psychiatry nurses took patients, two at a
time, to see their new unit. Amazed
by its size and amenities, one young
patient exclaimed, “I don’t know how
anyone could be depressed over here.
The view is so beautiful.”
For pediatric nurse Jena Smith, the
new home for her patients and their
families indeed feels brighter and
calmer. “I was so looking forward to
coming over to the new building, to
a world with less chaos and noise,”
says Smith.
In Bloomberg Children’s Center,
gone are the old days of crowded
patient rooms and corridors and
the unrelenting cacophony of overhead paging, phones and multiple
monitors. A quiet nurse-call system,
sound-absorbing building materials,
decentralized supply systems and allprivate rooms have created a soothing
environment.
“The new decentralized care
environment with single rooms is
remarkably better for children, families, and the nurses,” says Director of
Pediatric Nursing Shelley Baranowski.
“It provides a more comfortable experience for families and improves safety
with less distractions and noise.”
Via the new building’s Wi-Fi and realtime tracking technology, nurses and
other specialists and essential equipment can be located instantly. With
telemetry now in every playroom,
patients can wear wireless monitors,
allowing them to visit playrooms and
walk the hallways. Sophisticated lighting
systems make it easier for nurses to
perform bedside procedures with even
greater precision.
Also, to complement the move to
this new world, pediatric nurses last
winter launched an interpersonal skills
training program called the “Language
of Caring: Heart-to-Heart Communication,” designed to improve
communication between staff and families, a component of the Children’s
Center’s commitment to patient- and
family-centered care. n –Wendell Smith
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
13
14
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
photo by kevin
weber
The
and
e
r
u
t
c
e
t
i
rch omberg
o
l
B
f
o
s
’
n
e
r
Child
r
e
t
n
Ce
y Claude
b
d
e
ir
p
s
in
ade
er
A fritted faç rsize sculptures of puff n’s
e
re
Monet? Sup os? A marriage of child
fish and rhin ontemporary art? Just e
v
c
classics and architects and artists ha
e
what did th he new Children’s
t
in mind for hat does it mean for
w
Center, and their families?
patients and
ogan
by Gary L
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
15
n sept.
21, 2009, Bridget Diveley’s breathing suddenly
became heavy, which prompted a quick visit to her
pediatrician, then to the local ED, and finally to Johns
Hopkins Children’s Center where her parents heard
the last thing they wanted to hear—their daughter
might need a heart transplant. Debbie Long knew even
before her daughter Emily’s birth that multiple cystic lesions
had invaded her brain, a condition that would require repetitive surgeries
throughout her life. Indeed, the now-18-year-old has undergone more than
90 operations by renowned pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson. A surgical
procedure shortly after birth delayed for six years the liver transplant Sam
Tiemann would eventually need to live, but during that time he and his
parents spent countless hours, days and weeks in the Children’s Center,
which had become their second home.
These parents, like many parents of pediatric patients at the Children’s Center,
came in crisis, fought through turbulent
times, returned time and again for followup treatment. They knew of Hopkins long
history of success in treating complex, lifethreatening conditions, and they met physicians and nurses committed to providing
the best possible outcome for their child.
They felt they were in good hands—the
best hands—and were grateful for the continuing care their child received.
But for all the compassion and clinical expertise the hospital contained, the
building itself—the Children’s Medical
& Surgical Center, or CMSC—did little
to lighten their emotional burden. The
CMSC, a linear tissue-box of a building
erected in the early 1960s, served practical clinical purposes quite well for almost
a half-century. But over the years the brick
and mortar began to lose its luster and
imagination, freshness and uniqueness, its
personality—aesthetic dynamics today’s
hospital designers say create and sustain
human connections and help heal. The
clinical staff more than made up for any
design deficits in the building, but both
families and staff knew the Children’s
Center could be much more with a new
structure and style, which led to a new
16
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
building—The Charlotte R. Bloomberg
Children’s Center—an artful design and a
healing environment.
“A growing body of evidence shows that
you can create a hospital environment that
connects with patients and families during a medical crisis, reduces their stress
and anxiety, and enhances their health
and wellbeing in a number of ways,” says
Pediatrics Administrator Ted Chambers.
“That’s what we set out to do through the
art and design of this building.”
One of the early goals was to make the
new building approachable, but how do
you do that with a structure twice the size
of its predecessor? With, building designers decided, a curved façade covered by a
Monet rainbow of paneled window boxes
marked by countless brush strokes in the
glass known as frit—the creation of installation artist Spencer Finch. The resulting
effect is a translucent and shimmering
curtain wall that constantly reflects and refracts the ever changing light of day.
“From the beginning we were thinking
about glass as an analog for water, how
glass and water behave in similar ways, and
what we could do with the glass so that
it’s always changing,” says Finch. “Also,
it’s a big building and it can be intimidating, but water has a certain softness and
A growing body
of evidence shows
that you can
create a hospital
environment that
connects with
patients and
families during
a medical crisis,
reduces their
stress and anxiety,
and enhances
their health and
wellbeing in a
number of ways.
– pediatrics
administrator
ted chambers
photo by kevin weber
welcoming aspect to it.”
At night, Finch adds, the frit and façade
transform the Bloomberg Children’s Center into a glowing lantern—a snow globe
filled with bustling activities: “There’s a
certain amount of complexity in the design, and a feeling of activity and aliveness
that reflects all the great stuff that happens
here.”
A long, two-story canopy, an expansive
vehicular entry plaza a football field long,
and a series of gardens and stonework were
designed as welcome signs, too, adds consulting architect Allen Kolkowitz.
“The overall frit helps dematerialize the
façade, the gardens help soften your approach, and the canopy adds visual clarity
and unifies the entry,” says Kolkowitz. “It
is the point of arrival.”
And what a point of arrival. A childlike rhino, atop the back of a larger parent
rhino just outside the ground entrance to
the Children’s Center—one of set designer
Robert Israel’s 11 supersize sculptures in
the building—curiously peers up past the
canopy. And what does he or she see? A
22-foot-long orange ostrich dangling from
the ceiling of a four-story atrium, a winged
cubist cow jumping over a necklace of 28
moons, and a family of yellow puffer fish
playing in an imaginary pool over the stairwell connecting the ground and main levels
of the building. The idea for groups of creatures, Israel notes, came from Children’s
Center Director George Dover, who cited
his young patients’ great need for family
connections during a hospital stay.
“The Hopkins spaces became a fantastic opportunity to bring a sense of fun and
playfulness to this very formidable institution,” says Israel. “So I started with very
basic, block-like shapes, and made an effort
to include pairs or groups to remind children that they are not alone.”
“It is a playful response,” adds Kolkowitz. “Simply put, the sculptures are an
attempt to make the hospital experience
friendly and unintimidating.”
But not in a frivolous way, adds art curator Nancy Rosen: “Visually the aesthetics are fresh, unique and thoughtful. They
don’t fall back on simple clichés.”
To be sure, visitors are curious as they
spy a large blue egg atop a tall information
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
17
desk in the lobby. An ostrich egg? And
what’s with the Escher-like artwork under
the glass of an elliptical welcome desk in
Bloomberg Children’s atrium lobby? The
five orbs seemingly floating at the end of
a corridor in front of a 28-foot marble
wall on the main level? The book niches
and wall art? Other artworks ranging from
ceramic sculptures to collages, paintings,
photographic prints and watercolors. And
art as window screens?
The three-foot tall egg was indeed delivered by the outsized ostrich and nestled
into a notch on the spiraling, six-foot-high
information desk. The desk itself, sculpted
from an acrylic solid surface, is a clear and
artful point of reception.
“You’ll see that desk and the art, which is
part of the entry experience,” says Kolkowitz. “You will want to get closer and it will
sustain your interest as you get closer.”
The lobby elliptical art under glass—
Brooklyn artist Scott Teplin’s ink and
watercolor drawing—reveals an intricate
maze of canals, pools and ponds, rooms
and water slides for young minds to follow, if they can. They’re also challenged to
find objects hidden within the imaginary
spaces.
The illusionary three-dimensional orbs
floating in space are the “Parallax Knots”
of Brooklyn, N.Y. artist Thomas Burke’s
acrylic on canvas paintings. They’re actually flat paintings, notes Rosen, but they’ll
catch your eye as you’re walking down the
main level corridor.
“It will draw you down the hall and as
you’re looking at the art the baby rhino,
which comes up to the height of the main
18
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
There’s a certain amount of complexity in the
design, and a feeling of activity and aliveness that
reflects all the great stuff that happens here.
– Installation artist Spencer Finch
level window, will be looking right at you,”
says Rosen. “With all those saturated colors
of the paintings and the baby rhino, this
should be a happy conversation.”
The book niches, glass-enclosed displays embedded in the walls at the elevator lobbies on each floor, contain colorful
dioramas created by Baltimore artist Jennifer Strunge. Using recycled clothing and
cloth, she populated each niche with fanciful creatures, including monkeys, bunnies
and an octopus, reading children’s classics
like “Goodnight Moon” and “The Secret
Garden.”
On the wall of each elevator lobby is a
corresponding work of art—one of more
than 300 such works of art in the building
by over 30 artists—inspired by a theme,
scene or story line in a particular book in
the neighboring niche. This marriage of art
and literature takes children by the hand
on a journey to another time, another
place, where they may face—but also overcome—perilous obstacles.
California artist Terri Friedman, for example, was inspired by the determination
and deep love of two characters in “Fly
High, Fly Low,” which allowed them to
rise above adversity. Regarding her painting in the family lounge on Level 4, she
notes that “The sun’s rays over the water
represent hope, love and faith. Stormy skies
are healed by the rays of the sun.” Similarly, Philadelphia artist Joy Feasley was
inspired by an illustration in “King Stork”
by Howard Pyle. Her painting on Level 12,
she notes, imagines a dramatic castle and
other magical places where “beauty is everywhere, even during the most frightening
moments of the story.”
Such artworks permeate Bloomberg
Children’s Center, and the messages of
courage and optimism they leave for young
patients are like treasured messages in a
bottle, buoyant and beloved.
“We wanted the art in the building to
celebrate the power of books as a means
to promote healing,” explains Rosen. “But
we’re not trying to be prescriptive about
what you should read or see in a book.
Everyone has their own imagination, everyone can see what they see. It’s an opportunity to explore and feel free.”
The concept of window screen as art
came to light when designers realized the
walls of patient rooms leave little room for
anything but medical equipment. An added
inspiration was Baltimore’s folk tradition of
painting doors and window screens, which
explains why local landmarks like Camden
Yards, the pagoda in Patterson Park, and
the historic Shot Tower are featured on the
window shade in every patient room. You
might feel like you’re sitting on a Baltimore
row house front porch rather than in a hospital room.
“We wanted designs that were both informative and illustrative,” says Jim Boyd,
the artist who created the imagery for the
window shades. “So we loaded the shades
with lots of fun references and images peculiar to Baltimore.”
While the designers were thinking
themes like engagement and exploration
in planning the art, they had openness and
orientation in mind for the blueprint of the
building itself. They gave the long corridors
in the building large windows at their ends
to break down the scale of the building,
and off each elevator lobby they placed a
glass-enclosed family lounge with views of
the harbor, the city, the hospital exterior,
constantly orienting visitors to where they
are in the interior. Also, the predominant
blue tones in the elevator lobbies, along
patient floors and on the walkways of the
bridge leading into Bloomberg Children’s
Center—distinguished from the green
tones of the neighboring Sheikh Zayed
Tower for adult patients—immediately
lets pediatric patients and their families
know they are in the right place.
Patients and parents need not feel lost
or overwhelmed, explains Hopkins Facilities Vice President Sally MacConnell, but
oriented, safe and secure: “We want people
to know where they’re going and to feel as
comfortable as possible through the building environment.”
Adds Hopkins architect Michael Iati,
“Why blanket a building with signage
when you can guide visitors via the design
of the building itself.”
The airy four-story atrium reinforces the
feeling of openness, too. As in the bi-level
Sheikh Zayed lobby, Bloomberg Children’s Center visitors are also welcomed
by a flood of ambient lobby light, Grecian
white marble, terrazzo floors, and the entry
plaza’s gardens and reflecting pools bordering the new building. Observers point to
sensations of stability and strength, support
and trust, healing and hope.
Meanwhile, the art does not so much
stand alone as integrate and interact with
this environment. At each turn a patient,
family member or visitor in this aesthetic
sea of insights and positive diversions discovers a different path and place, a new
moment, a fresh journey that engages and
enlivens their experience. You may ponder
here. Take a trip. And if you have to come
back, ponder some more.
“From our collective point of view,” says
Kolkowitz. “it’s all about expanding the experience of the patient and the family.”
So, what is the experience like for patients like Bridget, Emily, Sam and their
families? What does the art and building
design say to them? How have they reacted?
On her first visit to the new hospital Bridget immediately started dancing
with the rhinos and then with the ostrich.
Emily, a competitive swimmer herself,
found herself floating among the puffer
fish with pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and Sam got to play some B-ball with
pediatric liver specialist Kathy Schwarz in
the Level 10 elevator lobby that features
the book “Hoops” by Walter Dean Myers.
Sam’s favorite quote from the book? “I got
a lot of my dream but I got more than I
dreamed of.”
Indeed. n
For more on patients’ reactions to the art and
architecture of Bloomberg Children’s Center,
see the photo journal beginning on page 20.
So I started with very
basic, block-like shapes,
and made an effort to
include pairs or groups
to remind children that
they are not alone.
– S et designer
Robert Israel
Simply put,
the sculptures
are an attempt
to make the
hospital
experience
friendly and
unintimidating.
– Architect
Allen Kolkowitz
Patients Make the Alphabet an Art Form
Thanks to pediatric patients and Baltimore
artist and MICA graduate Lauren P. Adams,
several playful alphabets have made their
way into the artwork of the new Bloomberg Children’s Center. Over the course
of several workshops, Adams taught the
youngsters how to make patterned cut-
outs using a process called papel picado,
the folk art technique of folding and cutting paper popular in Mexico and other
Latin American countries. To craft the
final alphabet, Adams brought together
many of the patients’ unique cut-outs
to create 26 uppercase letters. The final
designs were then printed as color silk
screens, under Adams’ supervision, by
Baltimore Print Studios, and now hang at
various locations throughout the Bloomberg Children’s Center, including outside
Schaffer auditorium on the main level and
near the children’s library on Level 3. n
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
19
Children’s Center patients Simion Sarte,
middle, and Gavin Michel-Baird boost their
spirits playing in Sara’s Garden, while Child
Life specialist Monica Gibson looks on.
20
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
Flying
High,
Flying
Low
in an Artful
New World
Through literary-themed artworks
young patients follow paths to magical
forests and secret gardens where they
discover polar bears and puffer fish,
tree spirits and themselves.
Photography by Keith Weller
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
21
3, adventurer Alexa Lazarou, age
5, of Columbia, Md., sets her sails through artwork
by Wellfleet, Mass., artist Timothy Woodman,
who was inspired by the heroic journeys he found
in “Around the World in 80 Days,” “Moby Dick”
and “The Wizard of Oz.” Says Alexa, who was
born at Johns Hopkins,“I’m curious about places,
where we are and why we’re here.”
on bloomberg
The book niches embedded in the walls at the elevator lobbies on each floor contain colorful
dioramas created by Baltimore artist Jennifer Strunge, who populated each niche with fanciful creatures reading children’s classics like “Goodnight Moon” and “The Secret Garden.” On
the end wall of each elevator lobby is a corresponding work of art inspired by a book in the
neighboring niche. This marriage of art and literature takes children on a journey to another
time, another place, where they may face—but also overcome—perilous obstacles.
22
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
a swimmer herself,
18-year-old Emily Long
with pediatric neurosurgeon
Ben Carson, joins a pool
of puffer fish sculptures
designed by set designer
Robert Israel.
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
23
24
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
10, patient Sam Tiemann,
with pediatric hepatologist Kathy Schwarz, still
has plenty of game after two liver transplants.
His favorite quote from the book “Hoops” by
Walter Dean Myers, which inspired the wall
art by Thomas Allen: “I got a lot of my dream.
But I got more than I dreamed of.”
on bloomberg
to Bloomberg Children’s
Center, pediatric heart transplant patient
Bridget Diveley immediately started dancing with the 22-foot-long ostrich sculpture
suspended from the ceiling of the hospital’s
four-story atrium. Bridget is also a big fan
of Dr. Seuss books, especially “The Cat in
the Hat.”
on her first visit
i got a lot
of my dream.
but i got
more than i
dreamed of.
—Walter Dean Myers
“Hoops”
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
25
on Bloomberg 4,
patient Dominic Herrick’s spirits soar with
artwork by El Cerrito, Ca., artist Terri Friedman, who was inspired by the theme of love
overcoming adversity in Don Freeman’s book
“Fly High, Fly Low.” Summing up his art, Friedman wrote, “The sun’s rays over the water
represent hope, love and faith. Stormy skies are
healed by the rays of the sun.”
in the family lounge
26
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
stormy skies
are healed by
the rays of
the sun
—Terri Friedman
patient elijah
sponseller,
age 2,
reads and reflects by
the “Goodnight Moon”
niche in Bloomberg
Children's Center.
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
27
at the Level 1 elevator
lobby, 13-year-old Xzavier
Eagan ponders the wintry
magical world of “Polar
Pink” by Pennsylvania artists
Walter Martin and Paloma
Munoz, who were inspired
by “The Golden Compass”
by Philip Pullman.
28
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
p
ediatric patient and
middle-school cheerleader Brittany Falcone,
top left, finds air time with New York artist Thomas Burke’s “Parallax
Knots,” flat acrylic paintings that appear to be floating in space at the
end of Bloomberg Children’s main level corridor.
“walking into bloomberg Children’s Center makes me feel like I’m
arriving at a party with confetti falling off the windows,” says pediatric
heart transplant patient Noah Thyberg, with pediatric cardiologist
Janet Scheel.
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
29
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Section Index
32 More Space for Premier ED
33 NICU Design with Less Movement in Mind
35 “Sweet Spot” Space in New ORs
36 Kids Only Imaging
39
Meals “At Your Request”
inside bloomberg
In the open and naturally-lit twostory infusion suite, pediatric
oncologists Ken Cohen (left) and
Don Small with pediatric oncology
nurse manager Lisa Fratino. 30
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Oncology
children’s center
A Model for Continuity of Care
By Gary Logan
For children with cancer, continuity of care is essential. That was the response of Pediatric
Oncology Director Donald Small and his staff when asked years ago for input on the design
of their unit in The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center. So rather than just build an
inpatient unit, why not add an adjacent pediatric oncology outpatient component?
“From the point of view of our patients
and their families, as well as our physicians, fellows, nurses and other staff, the
improvement in continuity of care would
be tremendous,” Small said at the time.
The powers that be listened and connected the two units in the new Bloomberg
Children’s Center. That means rather than
taking a ten-minute walk across campus to
check on a recently discharged patient in
the outpatient clinic, staff now only have
to walk down a hallway.
“Perhaps someone on the outpatient
side did not know what the patient’s
condition was like on the inpatient side,
whether the patient is better, worse or the
same as when they were discharged,” Small
says. “Now the inpatient team can easily
help out with that evaluation by running
over quickly to the outpatient clinic to see
the patient and consult with staff.”
The arrangement improves physician
learning, too, Small explains. After discharge, fellows have a greater ability to see
their own patients and how the patient’s
particular type of childhood cancer is responding to treatment. The adjacency,
adds pediatric oncologist Ken Cohen,
also means seamless movement of patients between inpatient and outpatient
units, with the potential for reducing a
hospital length of stay.
“For the patient waiting to be admitted, we can start inpatient chemotherapy
here in the outpatient infusion area and
then move the patient down the hall
when the room is ready,” says Cohen.
“You don’t have to wait for the patient
to get to the floor to do those kinds of
things, which can mean the difference
between an extra night in the hospital.
For our patients, who are repetitively hospitalized, any night not in the hospital is
a good night.”
Other features in pediatric oncology
include larger and all-private inpatient
rooms and more-accessible treatment
rooms. The outpatient side features an
open and naturally lit two-story infusion
room, and more exam rooms to speed up
patient flow and reduce wait times. Also,
all of the nurses are specially trained in
caring for children with cancer.
“We’re the only unit in the area with a
dedicated nursing staff who only take care
of cancer patients,” Small says.
Small adds that pediatric oncology in
the Bloomberg Children’s Center continues its policy of seeing patients the same
day as their call.
“Pediatricians and parents may worry
about how to get the child into the Hopkins system, but that’s something they
don’t have to worry about,” Small says.
“If they call the HAL line, my office, the
outpatient clinic or inpatient unit, we
will get them to the right place and see
them that day.” n
For more information, visit
www.hopkinschildrens.org/oncology
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
31
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center Emergency Medicine
More
Space for a
Premier ED
Pediatric Emergency Medicine Director
Douglas Baker couldn’t be happier with
the space his department has in the new
Bloomberg Children’s Center. After all, it
is twice the size of the former Pediatric ED
with private exam rooms in a child-friendly
atmosphere. Also, it’s easily accessible with
a convenient drop-off area by the front
entrance and a covered 12-bay ambulance
area at the rear. A covered pedestrian footbridge from the parking lot to the new hospital enhances access, too.
“We asked for more space and easier
ways for patients and families to get here,
and we got what we asked for,” says Baker.
“We acquired some other features, too, that
greatly enhance the ability of our staff to
care for patients.”
Those features include enhanced imaging capabilities in the Pediatric ED that
eliminate the need to shuffle patients to
and from radiology for imaging. Now pediatric radiologists are on-site in the Pediatric ED during peak hours (8 a.m. – 11
p.m.), allowing the majority of imaging to
be done on the spot in the ED. Roundthe-clock ultrasound and MRI help ensure responsible imaging by allowing the
most appropriate examination to be used
in every case, providing the best diagnostic
information at the lowest possible radiation exposure. For example, Baker notes, a
child’s suspected appendicitis can often be
confirmed with an ultrasound. But because
many EDs do not have an ultrasound specialist at all times, CT scans are often the
32
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
At their new entrance, from left to right, pediatric emergency medicine physicians Elizabeth
Hines, Karen Schneider, Bruce Klein, C. Jean
Ogborn, Thuy Ngo, Douglas Baker, Mitchell
Goldstein, and Jennifer Anders.
first-line imaging choice.
“While CT scans can be very helpful,
other radiation-free testing options are
frequently just as useful diagnostic aids,”
says Baker. “Our emergency medicine
physicians and pediatric radiologists will
continue to work together to identify diagnostic plans that minimize risk to our
patients and maximize accuracy of care.”
The experience and expertise of those
clinicians also greatly influence care, adds
Baker, who has been growing his staff—
in fact tripling it—in the years leading up
to the opening of Bloomberg Children’s
Center.
“We’ve been recruiting national leaders
in pediatric emergency medicine,” Baker
says, “to build a premier emergency medicine service and to ensure the best possible
outcomes for our patients.” n —GL
Features
> Separate triage rooms rather than
one triage space to reduce waiting
times and enhance patient privacy
> All private exam rooms, a separate
treatment room for minor emergencies, and two isolation rooms
> Dedicated pediatric trauma bays
> Expert management of multi-system illness and trauma
> Nurses educated, trained and certified in pediatric emergency nursing
> A multidisciplinary Child Protection
Team devoted to recognizing and
treating victims of child abuse
> Dedicated Child Life specialists,
who help minimize psychological
and emotional trauma
> Staff are members of the Pediatric
Emergency Care Applied Research
Network (PECARN), who study
treatment protocols and acute
illness prevention
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Trauma & Burn
Seamless Care Tailored for Children
In the old Children’s Center, pediatric
trauma staff took care of children in trauma
bays designed for adults. Also, MR imaging was located a floor below. But the new
Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center
features two dedicated state-of-the-art pediatric trauma bays and four adult trauma
bays adaptable for children, with imaging
modalities accessible on the same groundfloor level.
“No longer do we have to put children
on elevators to get imaging scans,” says
Pediatric Trauma/Burn Program Coordinator Katie Manger. “We have 24/7 MRI
and quicker access to care.”
The new pediatric trauma bays also
feature futuristic overhead booms that
facilitate easy and quick access to trauma
equipment. Also, with OR-like scrub
rooms off the trauma bays, trauma surgeons
can quickly perform emergency operations
without transporting the patient to an OR.
“We never have to leave the patient’s
side,” says Pediatric Trauma/Burn Pro-
gram Manager Susan Ziegfeld.
Features in the new burn inpatient
unit, Ziegfeld and Manger add, include
all-private rooms—important in minimizing infection risks—and two large dressing rooms with the latest equipment to
minimize the pain associated with dressing
changes. n —GL
The pediatric trauma/
burn team, from left to
right, trauma surgeon
Dylan Stewart, coordinator Katie Manger,
manager Susan Ziegfeld,
nurse practitioner Daniela Coelho, and social
worker Mindi Lutwin.
For more information, call 888-kid-burn.
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Neonatology
NICU Design with Less Movement in Mind
neonates, unnecessary
movement is the enemy—a message neonatologist Sue Aucott took to heart in
helping to design Hopkins new neonatal
intensive care unit (NICU). Critical to safe
and efficient transport, she stressed, is a
close proximity between Labor & Delivery
and the NICU—The Sutland/Pakula Family Newborn Critical Care Center.
“Having the units apart adds an extra
challenge to moving babies, especially critically ill newborns,” Aucott says. “The less
movement for the babies the better.”
In the new configuration the NICU and
Labor & Delivery are within a whisper of
each other on the eighth floor of the new
clinical building, with the obstetric ORs
as a connector so that high-risk neonates
will be handed off to NICU staff immediately after delivery. Of course, more than
proximity went into planning, says obstetrics Nurse Manager Joan Diamond: “Our
For high-risk
In one of the new Labor & Delivery ORs,
obstetrics Nurse Manager Joan Diamond
with NICU Nurse Manager Sue Culp.
units were designed as the ultimate in care,
with high-risk newborns in mind.”
OB census screens on NICU computers allow staff to identify high-risk moms
in Labor & Delivery. And well before delivery, a neonatologist or fellow meet with
those mothers-to-be and familiarize them
with the NICU to prepare for their newborn’s stay. When pre-term labor begins,
OB staff text the NICU’s delivery room
response team—a NICU resident, fellow, respiratory therapist and admissions
nurse—to prepare to pick up the newborn.
Another plus: Family-friendly amenities
are prominent in the new units, including
all-private rooms with sleeping facilities.
“Parents who are more comfortable in
their surroundings make it much easier for
us to care for babies,” says NICU nurse
manager Sue Culp. “With a private room
and decreased stimulation, they really get
to focus on their baby.” n —GL
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
33
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center Cardiology
Niche Services
Under One Roof
pediatric cardiologists
and their patients in The Charlotte R.
Bloomberg Children’s Center? “Exuberant
space under one roof,” says Director Joel
Brenner, noting that division facilities and
faculty had been somewhat scattered and
separate in its former space. But with an
outpatient clinic and non-invasive imaging
suite, fetal echo and heart transplant programs, and faculty offices housed together
on the second floor of the new hospital,
care will not only be cozier but more collaborative, too—and that means better care
for a wider range of patients.
“The new building was designed with
collaboration and consultation in mind,
and to provide services to an enormous
range of patients in an area that is much
more physically pleasing than our former
space,” says Brenner, citing a comfortable
family lounge adorned with artwork and
tastefully decorated exam rooms. “Rather
than treat only children, our division faculty have a greater capability to take care
of all patients, from the fetus to the adult,
with congenital heart conditions.”
The new space includes six exam rooms,
three treatment rooms for echo sedation,
an exercise pulmonary function lab, private consult rooms for family discussions, and a room for resident education.
The space facilitates pediatric cardiology
services for a broad range of disorders,
including arrhythmias, connective tissue
and lipid disorders.
“The key issue in pediatric cardiology these days is having the subspecialty
niches,” Brenner says.
Technology, as well as space, facilitates
subspecialty care. Imaging features include
an upgraded echocardiography suite with
top-line equipment and an experienced
staff that enhance diagnostics and collaboration with referring physicians.
“We don’t want to have surprises when
the child goes to the OR for heart surgery
or the catheterization lab for an interventional procedure,” says Director of Pediatric Cardiology Imaging Phil Spevak.
What’s new for
34
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
The new pediatric cardiac catheterization lab provides three-dimensional, highdefinition images to ensure accuracy and
improve results for patients. For example,
notes pediatric cardiologist Richard Ringel, patients with congenital heart disease
often require periodic work on their pulmonary arteries, whose complex anatomy
is not well captured on standard X-ray images. But three-D imaging allows better
planning and execution of procedures like
stenting and dilation of narrowed pulmonary vessels.
“Three-dimensional imaging in the cath
lab allows for even better precision when
implanting stents in blood vessels with
complex obstructions,” says Ringel.
Concludes Brenner, “It’s an exciting
time to be here. This space allows us to
move into the next century.” n —GL
For more information, visit www.hopkinschildrens.org/cardiology
The new pediatric cardiac catheterization lab, notes pediatric interventional
cardiologist Richard Ringel, provides threedimensional, high-definition images to ensure
accuracy and improve results for patients.
Features
In Bloomberg Children’s Center, pediatric cardiologists provide services for
a broad range of disorders, including—
> Arrhythmias
> Congenital heart disease for children
and adults
> Connective tissue disorders
> Fetal heart problems
> General cardiology disorders
> Genetic heart disorders
> Heart failure
> Lipid disease
> Ventricular disorders
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Surgery
In New ORs, Surgeons
Find the “Sweet Spot”
Unobstructed space and technological
advances make the new operating rooms
at Bloomberg Children’s Center ideal for
minimally invasive procedures.
For pediatric surgeons Fizan Abdullah, Jeffrey Lukish and Dylan Stewart, the
Johns Hopkins Hospital adult operating
rooms in which they tirelessly toiled for
years seem from an era long, long ago.
Though it’s been only weeks since they
moved into Bloomberg Children’s Center, that was more than enough time to
discover what they describe as futuristic
customized pediatric surgical suites with
overhead booms—rather than floor towers—designed to better position audio,
video and minimally invasive instruments.
“There’s a lot of hands-free video feed
that allows us to do advanced laparoscopic
surgery without the cumbersome nature of
towers around the table,” says Lukish.
“A lot of laparoscopic and telemedicine
components have been built into some of
Pediatric surgeons Abdullah, Lukish and Stewart in one of the new pediatric ORs.
these ORs,” says Abdullah. “In the immediate future, laparascopic surgery will
increasingly be a bread and butter component of our surgical expertise.”
“Not only does the technology make our
minimally invasive procedures simpler and
more efficient,” adds Stewart, “it also facilitates teaching.”
The pediatric surgeons also stress that
the 600 square feet of space in each OR
represents the ideal “sweet spot” for operating on children. That space not only offers
surgeons and OR nurses more elbow room,
but patients safer transport in and out of
the ORs. With pre-op and post-op care
units adjacent to the operating rooms—
rather than on different floors in their previous home—“Recovery,” says Stewart, “is
a night and day difference from where we
were.” n —GL
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Physical Rehabilitation
Another First in Outpatient Clinic Care
and occupational
therapists have long been proud of their
service in the Children’s Center. They’ve
provided comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation services through an interdisciplinary
approach for a variety of childhood disorders, including burns, cystic fibrosis, Down
syndrome, muscular dystrophy, and orthopedic injuries, among others. Working in
an academic setting, they’ve also been able
to help advance their field through participating in research on a wide range of issues
stemming from impairment and limited
function.
But because of space limitations they’ve
not been able to achieve one of their top
priorities—an outpatient pediatric rehabilitation program. With the opening of
The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s
Center May 1, however, that goal became
Pediatric physical
a reality, too.
“This is our first outpatient physical
rehabilitation clinic,” says Pediatric Rehabilitation Team Coordinator Julie Quinn.
“That’s what we’re starting here.”
“Here” is one corner of the second floor
of the Bloomberg Children’s Center, where
the spacious, state-of-the-art suite sits. Features include a kitchen area, a small gym
and a larger main room for multiple activities and exercises to help patients regain
strength and endurance. The benefits of
such an in-hospital outpatient rehab clinic
include improved continuity of care and
patient-family convenience, Quinn notes.
Oncology outpatients coming to the hospital weekly for medical follow-ups, for example, can schedule their physical therapy
and occupational therapy at the same time.
“Rather than send inpatients being
discharged somewhere else,” says Quinn,
“patients can have their physical and occupational therapy here. Why send them
outside?”
The focus is on children and adolescents
with significant medical conditions, like a
serious orthopedic injury or cancer. The
effects of medical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation treatment for childhood cancers—which can decrease core
strength and endurance for patients—are
targeted, too.
“Evidence-based research has shown that
those young children don’t regain what
they once had without rehab intervention,”
says Quinn.
The clinic is staffed by four physical
therapists, three occupational therapists,
and a pediatric hand therapist. For more
information, call 443-287-9262. n —GL
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
35
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Radiology
Imaging for Kids Only
It wasn’t too long ago, Division of Pe-
diatric Radiology Director Thierry Huisman notes, that a 4-year-old would find
himself in a radiology waiting room sitting
next to an 85-year-old man, or a healthy
child next to a sick child. That’s because
pediatric radiologists shared space with
their adult counterparts where they treated
both inpatient and outpatients. Also, their
offices and the imaging suites they used
were dispersed throughout the hospital. In
a sense, the division had no home.
No more. Now housed on Level 4 of the
new Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s
Center, pediatric radiologists—for the first
time—have their own dedicated space.
“It’s much more convenient for parents
and children to go to one place in a pediatric setting,” says Huisman. “They do
not have to walk into a hospital set up for
adults.”
Another plus, Huisman notes, is pediatric radiology’s proximity to the pediatric
intensive care unit (PICU), pediatric operating rooms, and pre-op and post-op care
units, all of which are also on Level 4. That
translates into safer transport of pediatric
patients and a more rapid response from
radiologists.
Imaging is safer and more family friendly
in the new suite, too, notes Huisman,
pointing to separate waiting areas for inpatients and outpatients that reduce their
risk of infection. Also, Children’s Center
radiologists are using the newest imaging
equipment optimized for low-dose radiation, thereby reducing exposure.
Family-friendly initiatives include glassenclosed alcoves in the radiology suites to
allow young patients to have visual contact with their parents while undergoing
imaging. Also, dedicated “quiet rooms,”
designed to have a calming, soothing effect on young children awaiting imaging,
is helping them avoid general anesthesia.
Huisman notes that over a recent twomonth period, 13 children scheduled for
an imaging study under general anesthesia
were able to complete their studies without it thanks to the quiet rooms and the
36
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
support of the recently recruited full-time
Child Life specialist in Pediatric Radiology.
Having a radiologic reading room in the
Pediatric Emergency Department, another
first, facilitates greater interaction between
pediatric radiologists conducting the studies and ED physicians. “This will greatly
improve the quality of interpretation of
imaging studies,” says Huisman, “which
should make a big difference in service.
We’re now a part of the ED team.”
Huisman also notes that thanks to Johns
Hopkins leadership’s support, he has been
able to grow his division from three pediatric radiologists four years ago to more than
six today. That means quicker referrals and
more accurate imaging studies.
“The leaders of Johns Hopkins Medicine made a clear statement that they
wanted to offer children the best care possible by building a new high-end hospital and expanding its pediatric radiology
expertise,” says Huisman. “The acquisition
of new faculty will mean much better end
results and a much more enjoyable experience for patients and families.” n —GL
It’s much more
convenient for parents
and children to go to
one place in a pediatric
setting. They do not
have to walk into a
hospital set up
for adults.
– thierry huisman, M.D.
In the new CT suite for children only, (from left to right) pediatric radiologists Melissa
Spevak, Thierry Huisman and Aylin Tekes.
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Child Life
This Room is Great
R. Bloomberg Children’s Center will have something great to talk about after they stop by
the two-story playroom on Level 11 near
pediatric oncology. The so-called “Great
Room,” notes Director of Child Life Patrice Brylske, is open to all pediatric patients but especially designed for children
with cancer, who may be immune-compromised, as a place to play without risk of
exposure from other children. With stairs
leading to the child and adolescent psychiatry unit on Level 12, the Great Room also
allows psychiatry patients easy access and
uninterrupted use of the space.
“In the new building, our children will
have the freedom to play in a large open
area without being exposed to the elements
or restricted by them,” says Brylske. “It will
open a new world in the hospital to them,
and help normalize their experience here.”
The 27-by-48-foot room has a basketball net, plenty of windows and closets
Patients in The Charlotte
for play supplies. Child Life specialists
supervise the room and its children and
guide them in recreational activities.
Children and teens throughout Bloomberg Children’s Center have access to the
Great Room, as well as multiple smaller
playrooms throughout the building. n
At center in red and white
stripes, Child Life Director
Patrice Brylske and her
staff of Child Life specialists
look forward to activities
in Bloomberg Children’s
Center's two-story playroom.
—Wendell Smith
A Studio for CCTV
In the former Children’s Center, CCTV
(Children’s Center TV) was solely a remote
operation, typically broadcasting from
crowded playrooms. But today patients,
families and visitors have a first-hand view
of CCTV programming via Bloomberg
Children’s Center’s glass-enclosed CCTV
studio off the main level corridor. Now
they can watch shows—like interviews
with visiting celebrities or patient-directed
talent shows—as they’re taking place. With
live feeds to major play and assembly areas
in the new hospital, including its auditorium and two-story playroom, CCTV has
at last its own modern venue for entertaining and engaging patients.
“For the first time we have an editing
suite, studio lighting, backdrops and seating arrangements that can be rearranged to
suit the occasion,” says Child Life Video
Producer Carlos Harris. “And the studio’s
central location makes it easier to get folks
to stop by and say hello to our kids over
the TV.”
Overseen by the Department of Child
Life, CCTV features the videography of
Harris and on-air talent of Child Life’s
special events coordinator Annie Woods
Beatson, who together with Child Life colleagues lead patients in the weekly and ever
popular Hospital Bingo, host a cooking
show and introduce Clown TV. Broadcast
through the new interactive TigrNet system, CCTV programming not only provides diversions from what Beatson calls
the “boredom and abnormality of being in
a hospital,” but camaraderie and relief from
a sense of isolation.
“It is amazing how many of our patients,
confined as they are to their beds or units,
don’t realize that there are so many others undergoing care here,” says Beatson.
“CCTV helps them see that they are far
from being alone, which helps create a
sense of community.” n —WS
Carlos Harris and Annie Woods Beatson
welcome a patient to CCTV.
For more information on CCTV, contact the
Department of Child Life at 410-516-6276.
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
37
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Patient Amenities
With TigrNet, TV is Much More than TV
There was a time, Television Services Coordinator Tria Tucker says, when a woman
would stop by a patient’s room with a cash
box and sign-up form in hand for television service each day. And if you didn’t
pay, Tucker notes, she would come back
later and turn off the TV.
“Not only that, but the TVs got poor
reception and looked like they came from
‘The Flintstones’ era,” laughs Tucker.
The days of per-diem fees and channel
surfing a boxy 13-inch TV are long over,
says Tucker, noting that television access
in the Children’s Center for some time
has been free and clear and the channel
choices many. Now, in The Charlotte R.
Bloomberg Children’s Center, television
services are taking on a more futuristic and
family-friendlier face. A new system called
TigrNet not only offers extensive television
programming through 26- and 32-inch
flat-screen TV's, but interactive gateways
to myriad healthcare resources related to
the patient’s stay, like patient education
videos and clinicians’ bios. Families no longer have to rely on printed materials for information about the hospital, their child’s
care and their care team. Through TigrNet,
a digital carousel of the Children’s Center’s
expansive services are at their fingertips and
a click away.
“You can think of TigrNet as an instant
patient portal to all of our amenities, resources and services,” says Tucker. “Patients have access to the Internet, e-mail
and gaming using their television as the
monitor, to their CaringBridge page for
notes from friends and family at home, or
to their patient education page where they
can view videos prescribed by their clinician. All they have to do is click and watch,
and they can leave their laptop or digital
device at home.”
When patients turn TigrNet on, Tucker
explains, they’ll enter a personalized welcome page with their name, date and room
number, and a customized Hopkins Children’s portal layered deep with resources
and services specific to the hospital. They’ll
see icons for access to basic TV, Internet, hospital services, and patient educa38
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
Navigation tool in hand, television services coordinator Tria Tucker demonstrates
the interactive TigrNet system now being used in Bloomberg Children’s Center.
tion. Rather than leaf through multiple
brochures or a heavy hotel-like concierge
guidebook in their room, patients navigate
digital pages via a wireless keyboard or a
hand-held nurse-call device at their bedside.
And no instruction booklet needed. In the
new hospital, customer service representatives familiarize patients and families to the
system.
While the interactive system offers an
array of entertainment options, Director
of Patient/Family and Visitor Services
Mary Margaret Jacobs points to its ability
to push tailored “on-demand” educational
materials to the patient as its greatest value.
TigrNet offers over 200 videos on subjects
ranging from managing a chronic disease
to coping with your hospital stay. In a patient- and family-centered approach, the
system also offers care-team pages to patients, putting a face on their healthcare
providers.
“So when a person on your medical
team comes through the door,” Tucker
explains, “you’ll know that person’s name
and face, and their role on your team.”
In the future, TigrNet may offer virtual
access to a variety of hospital services, including Child Life, dietary, guest services,
housekeeping, pastoral care, and pharmacy. Real-time patient/family surveys
may be another application, allowing staff
to respond to concerns pre-discharge. n
—GL
Inside Bloomberg Children's Center | Patient Amenities
Meals “At Your
Request”
wind is blowing at Johns Hopkins. Now in Bloomberg Children’s Center, patients and families may order food a la carte and
have it delivered to the bedside between the hours
of 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. daily. The new on-demand
dining service, “At Your Request,” is designed to
improve both patients’ nutrition—and subsequently health outcomes—and families’ hospital
experience. Pediatric patients are able to eat when
they’re hungry and to choose from a child-friendly
menu that includes pasta dishes, chicken tenders,
cheese quesadillas, salads, and cold cereals.
How does it work? Patients or their caretakers
place orders over the phone to a nutrition call center, where trained operators with access to patients’
nutrition information assist them, either taking orders or offering alternatives if, for example, a patient
is on an all-liquid diet or a sodium-restricted one.
A service of the Department of Food and Clinical
Nutrition at Johns Hopkins, “At Your Request”
uses Sodexo’s menu management software, which
automates patients’ nutrition records and clinically
prescribed diet plans.
The restaurant-style meals are prepared in a new
hospital kitchen, overseen by the executive chef of
patient services at Johns Hopkins, Jakob Fatica,
and delivered by clinical nutrition assistants. “For
our pediatric patients, meals will become a means
for choice in an environment that is otherwise very
structured,” says Project Manager Julie Branham,
in the Department of Food and Clinical Nutrition.
Parents or visitors are able to call in their own
food orders, and have “guest trays” delivered to a
patient’s room for a nominal fee. This
allows them to remain with a child or
enjoy a meal with him or her. Also,
nurses continue to provide after-hour
snacks and meals for hungry children.
Nutrition Services keeps unit pantries
and freezers stocked with food popular
with children, like Lunchables and
breakfast burritos. n —WS
A new culinary
Patient
Services
Executive Chef
Jakob Fatica
oversees "At
Your Request."
“I’ve learned that one of the most crucial requirements as a librarian in a special library like ours is to follow the needs of the borrower and to be very aware
of where they are emotionally.” – Gwen Rosen, Childen’s Center librarian
Reading by Skylight
Visitors to the children’s and family resource library
in Bloomberg Children’s Center enter a sky-lit world
designed to encourage exploration and contemplation,
notes librarian Gwen Rosen.
“We’re pleased to be in a new, fresh space, and one
with a skylight,” says Rosen. “Walking into our beautiful
new library is kind of a therapeutic experience and a very
welcoming one.”
And her role once patients arrive? “I’ve learned that
one of the most crucial requirements as a librarian in a
special library like ours is to follow the needs of the borrower and to be very aware of where they are emotionally,” says Rosen.
Adjoining the new library is the new children's meditation room, a calming space that can be arranged for
gatherings, individual prayer or pastoral care for families. “A spiritual place makes sense to a child,” says Ty
Crowe, director of pastoral care at Johns Hopkins, “and
this one has been designed with children’s spiritual needs
in mind.” n —WS
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
39
People&Philanthropy | Section Index
42 A Vision Fulfilled
43 Stalwart Supporters
45 A Place for Play
46 A NICU Like None Other
people&philanthropy
Joining ribbon-cutter and patient
Gavin Michel-Baird on stage are, left
to right, Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital,
United Arab Emirates President
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Bloomberg Children’s Center
donors Michael Bloomberg and his
sister, Marjorie Tiven, at right.
40
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
People&Philanthropy
A Dedication
For the Future
By Gary Logan and Wendell Smith
With the sounds of music and “lights, cameras, action” in the air, Children’s Center
faculty and staff, dignitaries and donors, patients and families celebrate the opening of
The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center.
Spotlights and studio lights overhead and jumbo screens lining
a stage? Strolling musicians and ribbon dancers? Smiling men,
women and children seemingly walking a red carpet? The making of a Hollywood film? A movie premier, perhaps? The grand
opening of a theme park?
Maybe a little bit of each and a whole lot more. This was about
a big production, as well as a premier of sorts, and an opening,
though not of a new theme park but of the state-of-the-art Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center and neighboring Sheikh
Zayed Tower. A more promising future for children’s healthcare
was the theme here at the official dedication April 12, and the
faculty and staff, dignitaries and donors, patients and families
had been waiting a long time for this moment.
“People are so happy and excited, I think it’s wonderful,” said
Pediatric Residency Program Director Julia McMillan. “It’s the
culmination of a long process.”
“It’s nice,” added pediatric gastroenterologist Maria OlivaHemker, “to finally see a facility as good as the people working
here for our patients.”
One of those patients, 9-year-old Gavin Michel-Baird, was
among the first speakers. “When I was 9 months old, I was really, really sick, but my parents found the GI department here
and because of that I’m not only here but I’m great,” he said.
“The new Children’s Center will make it even better for kids and
their families,” he added, introducing New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, a Johns Hopkins graduate and the son of the late
Charlotte R. Bloomberg.
“That the Children’s Center will bear the name of my mother
is truly gratifying,” Bloomberg said. “My mother would want
great advances in medicine and a whole bunch of children over
the years walking out with a whole new lease on life.”
Bloomberg went on to describe the new building as a worldclass hospital that would tie research, teaching and clinical care
even more closely together at Hopkins and lead the way in defining new standards of care. Pointing to the building’s stimulating
and soothing design, he added, “I don’t often give speeches in
front of a pair of colorful rhinos. It is the signature defining
touches from the great designer Robert Israel, among other artists represented here, who have all contributed to a unique and
uplifting environment of support and healing.”
Soon after local musicians and high school choirs filled the
stage with dignitaries and donors as they unfolded a long blue
and green ribbon representing Bloomberg Children’s Center and
the Zayed Tower. Then, using the dissecting scissors used by
“Blue Baby” operation collaborator Vivien Thomas, Gavin cut
the ribbon, sending ribbons across the stage and into the audience with the announcement that “The doors are now open.”
Watching from the audience, Assistant Director of Pediatric
Nursing Dawn Luzetsky said, “All the hard work we put into this
building is now a reality.”
Pediatrician and donor Lawrence Pakula added, “There’s so
much for the future here. I’m glad I’m alive to see this day. I
could never have imagined this.”
Who could? n
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
41
People&Philanthropy | Funding a Vision
Donors, patient families, faculty and staff
attended the 2006 groundbreaking for
Bloomberg Children’s Center.
A Vision Fulfilled, a Promise Kept
for the generations of medical luminaries
who have made Johns Hopkins Children’s Center among
the best in the world for sick and injured children, and
to the philanthropists—large and small—who have supported and sustained them, and those in their care. As
we enter a new era in a new home, The Charlotte R.
Bloomberg Children’s Center, we recognize the individuals, families, corporations, financial institutions, communities and supportive boards that joined forces with
leadership to build a facility that once again matches the
world-class pediatric medicine that Johns Hopkins has
pioneered since 1912.
We give thanks
When told in 1956 that the new director of the Department of
Pediatrics, Robert Cooke, M.D., was going to build a new children’s hospital at Johns Hopkins to replace its aging 1912 Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children, pediatric psychiatrist Leo
Kanner famously replied, “That’s what they told me in 1929.”
That was around the time he was recruited to Johns Hopkins
to develop the nation’s first program in child psychiatry.
The opening of The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center in May 2012 fulfilled promises to a new generation of Johns
Hopkins faculty and staff for a modern facility that matched
the caliber of medicine practiced in the building that Cooke,
indeed, helped make a reality in 1964: The Children’s Medical
& Surgical Center (CMSC). Bloomberg Children’s Center grew
out of a need recognized decades earlier, too.
By the 1980’s, the practice of pediatric medicine, in all its
modern complexities, had outgrown the space allotted and de42
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
signed for in the CMSC, a model of its time. Dramatic advances
in care and technology were necessitating ongoing renovations
and retrofits of outmoded patient rooms and units.
At an annual leadership strategy meeting at Johns Hopkins in
the early 1990s, Director of Child Life Jerriann Wilson illustrated
the struggles families, too, faced in CMSC. She presented a video
of its cramped and noisy units and semi-private patients rooms,
never designed for the modern volume of medical technology
and monitors, or to accommodate families’ emotional needs for
privacy or control in the hospital environment. “For us, it was like
a light bulb came on, and we saw that we had to act,” says Johns
Hopkins Children’s Administrator Edward Chambers, recalling
the video, “and to find funding to make it possible.”
So he and Hopkins Children’s Center Director Frank Oski,
a fierce advocate for a new facility, set out to find potential
sponsors. Oski’s efforts were cut short by cancer, which forced
upon him an early retirement in 1995. Johns Hopkins Pediatric
Hematologist George Dover became Oski’s successor in 1996.
Dover, who had trained and practiced in CMSC, was well aware
of its physical shortcomings by any modern American standard.
A year later, he and the new chief executive for Johns Hopkins
Medicine, Edward D. Miller, led an institution-wide push to
engage a planner and develop a specific scenario for a new children’s hospital. Locations were generally agreed on and incorporated into a Campus Redevelopment Plan.
Illustrative of the famous Johns Hopkins collaborations in
adult and pediatric medicine, the new Children’s Center would
share its foundations with a new adjacent adult cardiac and
critical care tower. In 2006 ground was broken. The next year,
construction began on a parcel of Johns Hopkins property, near
the footprint of the old Harriet Lane Home. n
In addition to our
naming donor, the
following were
leaders in giving
to The Charlotte
R. Bloomberg
Children’s Center.
Alex. Brown & Sons Charitable
Foundation
Mayer M. and William C. Baker
Dana and Albert R. Broccoli
Charitable Foundation
The Bunting Family Foundation
Children’s Cancer Foundation, Inc.
Donna R. and Bradley E. Chipps, M.D.
Clayton Baker Trust
The Clayton Fund
Constellation Energy
Irene and John De Luca
Rosetta and Matt DeVito
Janet E. and Edward K. Dunn, Jr.
Eliasberg Family Foundation
Food Lion
The Robert Garrett Fund for the
Surgical Treatment of Children
Meri and Phil Gibbs
Harriet Lane Home Foundation
Hospital For Consumptives of
Maryland (Eudowood)
Jacobson Family
Stuart & Lynn Janney and Bessemer
Trust Company, NA
Robert and Janet Jacapraro
A.B. Krongard
Milton A. and Harriet F. Laitman
Rand R. and Raymond A.
Mason
Anne M. Murphy, M.D., and
Lawrence M. Nogee, M.D.
Sutland/Pakula Family
Carmine V. Petrone
Nancy and Morris W. Offit
Sadie’s Gift
Mamie and Louis A. Sarkes, Jr.
Sherry C. and Richard L. Sharp
Molly and Mayo Shattuck
Outback Steakhouse
Turock Family Foundation
Family and Friends of Sara
Michele Wilhide
The Women’s Board of The
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Lockhart Vaughan Foundation
Wells Fargo Foundation
Judith & M. Richard Wyman
People&Philanthropy | Funding a Vision
100th Anniversary
Celebrating a Century of Care
A hundred years ago, Johns Hopkins, first hospital for children opened. The
Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children was named for its benefactress,
Harriet Lane Johnston, who with her husband Henry Johnston, a Baltimore
banker, bequeathed funds to establish a hospital for chronically ill children.
Their own sons died in childhood from then untreatable rheumatic heart
disease. Since the Lane first opened its doors at Johns Hopkins Hospital,
Nov. 21, 1912, pediatric medicine at Johns Hopkins has been translating
laboratory science and clinical observation into groundbreaking therapies
and discoveries for children. Hopkins pediatric research clinicians were instrumental in ending the childhood scourge that cut short the Johnston
children’s lives. n —WS
Corporations and Community Groups
Stalwart Supporters
When Kids Helping Hopkins held its annual Kilometers for Kids 2K/5K
walk/run for Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in April 2012, more than
150 children and adults turned out for the latest in the school-based philanthropy. Since it was launched in 1994 by Hernwood
Elementary music teacher Anita Rozenel and her
husband, thousands of school-age children, their
families and neighbors have hosted runs, bake
sales, contests and more, raising more than $1.4
million for the Children’s Center.
Additonal groups and corporations recognized—on a plaque in Bloomberg Children's
Center—for their contributions of $1 million
and more to the hospital over the years are Children’s Miracle Network (CMN), WMAR-TV
ABC2, CBS Radio's Mix 106.5 FM, Carroll
Independent Fuel, Giant Food, Martin’s Food, Wal-Mart, Rite Aid,
WaWa, Credit Unions for Kids
and Griffith Energy Services, Inc.
Their fundraising has supported
the programs and services that
improve the lives of Johns
Hopkins pediatric patients
and their families.
“We are in their debt,” says
Children’s Center Director
Anita Rozenel, a music teacher at Hernwood ElGeorge Dover. “They have
ementary School in Baltimore, with her husband,
been stalwart supporters and the
Sam, founded Kids Helping Hopkins, a school-based
foundation upon which many
program which has raised more than $1.4 million
for the Children’s Center.
support services here have been
built.” n —WS
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
43
People&Philanthropy | Dedication Gala
Funding the Vision: A decade of
philanthropic support is celebrated
at donor galas and garden
dedications, among other events.
I
n 2003, Johns Hopkins presented a certificate-of-need to
the State of Maryland. “The need for academic medical centers to grow was apparent,” says Hopkins Children’s Center
Director George Dover. “Yet our buildings were mid-20th
century or earlier vintage. We had nowhere to go but new.”
They presented plans, along with the financial justification for
a new building, and received state approval that year, as well as
significant funding. For Children’s Center and Johns Hopkins
Medicine, the race was on for the private funding that would help
make construction a reality. In the end, philanthropic contributions provided more than a third of the funding for the project.
By the time the Bloomberg Children’s Center and companion
adult tower opened in May 2012, they cost more than $1.1 billion. Philanthropic contributions took many forms, including a
pledge in 2003 by The Women’s Board at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the largest in its nearly 80-year history. Two of the Children’s Center boards, The Robert Garrett Fund for the Surgical
Treatment of Children and The Hospital for the Consumptives
of Maryland (Eudowood) each pledged, and the third, The Harriet Lane Home for Invalid Children of Baltimore City, pledged
as well. A landmark gift from the Children’s Cancer Foundation
and founder Shirley Howard contributed to support a state-ofthe-art oncology inpatient unit, this in addition to contributions
since 1979 to update CMSC’s pediatric oncology and neuro-
Johns Hopkins trustee Mark Rubenstein, with his wife, Robin,
was honored with the naming of the two-story infusion suite
after him in the new outpatient pediatric oncology unit in
Bloomberg Children’s Center (see page 31).
44
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
Johns Hopkins Medicine Trustee Mayo A. Shattuck III, who with
his wife Molly supported the Shattuck Family Pediatric Burn Unit
in Bloomberg Children’s Center, Maryland’s designated burn
center for children (see page 33).
surgery units. The Alex Brown and Sons Charitable Foundation
contributed, too.
“The Children’s’ Center has always been there when colleagues, their children and the community have needed it,” said
a trustee of the venerable institution’s charitable foundation in
2003. “We want to help ensure it always will be.”
A large gift from the Sutland and Pakula family (who asked
to remain anonymous at the time) to help support the neonatal
intensive care unit in the new building, brought the Children’s
Center halfway to its philanthropic goal for financing the building.
Family and corporate gifts continued. Many supported playrooms,
consultation rooms, a Great Room for kids, family lounges, the
pediatric burn unit, the oncology infusion suite, operating rooms,
gardens, libraries, conference rooms and more. n —WS
William C. Baker (right), CEO of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, with
his wife, Mayer, and Dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health
Michael Klag. The two-story “Great Room” in Bloomberg Children’s
Center is a gift from the Bakers, the Clayton Fund, Inc., the Clayton
Baker Trust and the Lockhart Vaughan Foundation, Inc. (see page 37).
People&Philanthropy | Green Space
Gardens to Calm the Soul
In the courtyard entrance to
The Charlotte R. Bloomberg
Children’s Center and the
Sheikh Zayed Tower are a series of gardens, tied together by
walkways, benches, a reflecting
pool and waterfall. A gift from
longtime Children’s Center
supporter Harriet Laitman and
named in memory of her late
husband and avid gardener
Milton A. Laitman, the gardens help counterbalance the
stresses of illness and hospitalization for patients, families
and friends. Designed by landscape architects from Olin, the
Milton A. and Harriet F. Laitman Memorial Garden was
dedicated in May 2012.
Sara’s Garden
will be a place
of peace and
hope for
families.
—Steve Wilhide
Children’s Center
Director George
Dover and his wife
Barbara with Harriet
Laitman, center, a
longtime supporter
of pediatric medicine
at Johns Hopkins.
At the dedication
of “Sara’s Garden,”
June 8, Cheryl and
Steve Wilhide with
daughters Paige and
Rachel.
A Place for Play in Sara’s Garden
When their toddler, Sara, died in 1989 of complications related
to her congenital heart condition, parents Steve and Cheryl Wilhide vowed to keep alive the love Sara gave and the hope she
inspired. In the Children’s Center pediatric intensive care unit,
where Sara was treated, they created a room for families, which
they kept stocked with everything from coffee to toothpaste, to
create a respite, a place of normalcy. And now, to help Sara’s
message of hope live on, the Wilhides gave The Charlotte R.
Bloomberg Children’s Center a whimsical garden for children.
Located in its inner courtyard, nestled between the new and old
buildings, “Sara’s Garden” is inspired by her favorite book “The
Little Prince.” Designed by Olin, it offers little volcanoes for
climbing and birds that children can move along a track.
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
45
People&Philanthropy | Funding a Vision
At the dedication of The Sutland/Pakula Family Newborn
Critical Care Center on March 6, from left to right, Hopkins
Children’s Center Director George Dover, Johns Hopkins
Hospital and Health System President Ronald R. Peterson,
donors Sheila S. Pakula and Lawrence Pakula, and Dean of
the Medical Faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine
Edward D. Miller.
A NICU Like None Other
The Sutland/Pakula Family Newborn Critical Care Center,
the state-of-the-art, 45-bed neonatal intensive care unit
(NICU) in Bloomberg Children’s Center, honors the generosity of the families who made it possible. The unit features
a host of family-friendly amenities and all private rooms,
a first for NICU patients at Johns Hopkins. It also houses
a Neurosciences Intensive Care Nursery, providing comprehensive assessment and treatment for newborns who
are at high risk of neurological injury or who have clinical
evidence of developmental brain abnormalities. Additional
gifts include an endowment to support faculty research and
a professorship. Josephine and Frank Sutland, D.D.S, were
longtime supporters of The Johns Hopkins University and its
School of Medicine. The Sutlands’ daughter, Sheila Pakula,
and her husband, Lawrence Pakula, are also generous supporters, particularly in the area of child health.
46
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
People&Philanthropy | Funding a Vision
A Room with a View for Teens
Chairman of Offit Capital Advisors Morris W. Offit, former
Chairman of the Board of Johns Hopkins University, and his
wife, Nancy, contributed funds for a playroom on the Adolescent Unit. The Nancy S. Offit Teen Room includes a pool
table, basketball net and air hockey game as recreation for
teens well enough to travel from their rooms.
Supporting State-of-the-Art Surgery
Robert Garrett, IV, is a board member of The Robert Garrett Fund for the
Surgical Treatment of Children, which has allocated millions to support Johns
Hopkins’ pediatric general surgery program and the construction of both the
Children’s Medical & Surgical Center and Bloomberg Children’s Center.
S u mme r 2 0 1 2
47
“The colorful décor,
the open views of
Baltimore and the
harbor from the
inpatient floors help
you forget you’re in
a hospital.” – Aron
Family Matters
Katz, FAC member
and parent
Ask Parents
and They
Will Build It
by Gary Logan
F
or parents of Children’s Center patients, the
last thing they wanted to hear as plans got
underway for The Charlotte R. Bloomberg
Children’s Center was “Build it and they will come.”
The maxim Pediatrics Administrator Ted Chambers
heard was, “Ask us and we’ll help build it.”
So he did just that through a series of surveys, focus groups, and interactive information sessions with parents and members
of the Family Advisory Council (FAC).
Wanting abundant information, he asked
only one question—What do you want in
a new children’s hospital?
The answers were many, including an
accessible children’s hospital with a grand
entrance, a colorful façade with soft curves,
and spacious family lounges with lots of
natural light. An aesthetic warm and healing environment with fountains, gardens
and modern art was on the list, too, as well
as family amenities like kitchenettes, laundry and shower facilities on each floor. The
rooms should be private with sleep sofas,
and intensive care units like the NICU and
PICU should offer parents sleeping accommodations, too. And greater dining options.
One parent summed it up: “The Children’s Center should not feel like a hospital but rather a place where children and
families can feel comfortable.”
Looking at Bloomberg Children’s
48
HO PK INS C HILD RE N’S | hopkinschildrens.org
Center today, one might think parents
wrote up the architectural plans, donned
hard hats and constructed the new building themselves. Indeed, parents provided
some valuable insights, but for the most
part their wish list was the wish list of
Children’s Center leaders.
“They were very good meetings and we
did have very forthcoming parent input,”
says Patient- and Family-Centered Care
Coordinator Barbara Hall, recalling parent focus groups. “For us, it was a matter
of hearing their voice.”
Chambers agrees, recalling a mom who
started to cry when he told her focus group
“we see you as our partners.” Unpredictably, he adds, such experiences enhanced
the relationship with parents.
“She had never heard that before. She
never felt she was anything other than
someone receiving information,” Chambers says. “Those were the kinds of experiences that gave us the ability to not just talk
to parents but to listen to parents, too.”
Such experiences also helped prompt
the Children’s Center’s 2007 patient- and
family-centered care initiative, which led
to the creation of a new FAC and achievements like family rounds and a full-time
parent advisor on staff. While families have
always had a presence at the Children’s
Center, Chambers notes, never before had
their ideas been solicited, considered and
incorporated into policy to this extent.
“We’ve had quite a lot of impact on
operations and how families interact with
staff,” says Pam Griffin, the Children’s
Center’s full-time Parent Advisor.
“Now family-centered care is in the
forefront of an unbelievable number of
conversations each day,” adds Children’s
Center Director George Dover. “More
and more we’re putting ourselves in the
shoes of parents before making decisions.”
So, what do these parents see in Bloomberg Children’s Center? “Being able to stay
with your child in the intensive care unit
is a tremendous blessing,” says FAC parent
member Debbie Burton. “It’s so important
to be able to be near your child at a time
when he or she is most critical and scared
and needs the reassurance of a parent.”
“It’s beautiful, clean and bright with
an abundance of natural light, and I love
the original works of art,” says Howard
County parent Anne Wills. “I think the
building inspires hope and healing.”
Adds FAC parent member Aron Katz,
“The colorful décor, the open views of Baltimore and the harbor from the inpatient
floors help you forget you’re in a hospital.” n
Patient Voices
A Quieter, Homier Home
By Rebecca Manning
I was the first patient on the
old adolescent unit to move
into Bloomberg Children’s
Center. When I saw my
new room, I was speechless.
I didn’t expect it to be that
awesome.
The amenities are far better, even the food. You
can mix and match and order what you like when
you want it. And the technology is awesome. There’s
a flat-screened TV with Netflix and access to the
Web and, of course, Facebook. A special TV feature
shows your care team, when they’re on service and
what they do.
In the old semiprivate rooms, you heard everything that was going on—conversations, alerts,
monitors—24 hours a day. It was not a restful environment for any of us. But now all the rooms are
private with sofa beds for parents. My mom says
she sleeps better, too. It’s much quieter and homier
here, which will enhance care.
We just couldn’t get over how smooth the patient move was. My mother had joked before that we Rebecca Manning, 18, is a student at Stevenson University
Baltimore County. After college, she wants to attend
should set up lawn chairs to watch the chaos of people in
medical school and create documentaries to help healthcare
and equipment. But there was none of that. It was all providers better understand what life is like for patients with
choreographed and well organized. And Johns Hop- chronic conditions.
kins had presents for us. I liked the blanket, the little
bag of toiletries and the book, “The Secret Garden,”
which I’ll have to read soon.
I had come to Johns Hopkins two weeks earlier with severe chest and abdominal pain. My IV
line had been bent in a car accident and was causing all sorts of problems.
I have a condition known as POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and a host
of other conditions, including ankylosing spondylitis, endometriosis, gastroparesis and scoliosis.
My doctor, Peter Rowe, is fantastic. He makes me laugh and really listens to me. He specializes
in diagnosing and managing complicated conditions like mine, so I feel more comfortable when
he’s around. He always finds an answer. n
s u mm er 2 0 1 2
49
Hopkins Children’s
Office of Communications & Public Affairs
901 S.Bond Street / Suite 550
Baltimore, MD 21231
Build their bright future.
Create your lasting legacy.
For nearly 100 years, the physicians and scientists of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center
have pushed the boundaries of pediatric medicine and developed world-class care for
the sickest children and their families.
And generous supporters have been there with us every step of the way, beginning with
Baltimore banker Henry Johnston and his wife, Harriet Lane Johnston, who established
the first children’s hospital affiliated with an academic institution through a gift from
their estate.
If you also believe that all children deserve a bright and healthy future, there are many
ways to create your own legacy to support the mission of Johns Hopkins Children’s
Center. Some, like a bequest, don’t even require you to part with assets now; others
provide you or a loved one with guaranteed income for life.
Contact Richard Letocha in the Johns Hopkins Office of Gift Planning to learn more.
410-516-7954 | 800-548-1268 | [email protected] | giving.jhu.edu/giftplanning
Nonprofit Org.
U.S. Postage Paid
Hanover, NH
Permit 8