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Kim And The Kids At KHMH
posted (March 12, 2015)
34 plus babies will benefit from the new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the KHMH. It's not finished yet but, today, the Special Envoy for Women and Children Kim Simplis Barrow took the media on a tour to see the progress so far. We learned that it's more than just a treatment facility. Director of Medical Services Dr. Lisa Johnson explained why they included the family centered element in the design. Here's the story.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
This might look like an abandoned building with these pale walls and construction materials splayed across the floor.

But it's not. Work is very much in progress at the new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the KHMH.

In here is where the isolation rooms will be for critical cases. While in here will be the Neonatal area.

And this will be the play area for the kids. But this new space wasn't designed to cater only to the kids.

Kim Simplis Barrow, Special Envoy for women and children
"It will have a section for parents, a sleeping quarter for parents. As you know Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital is the national referral hospital and people come all the way from Punta Gorda to seek medical help here and so some of these people don't really have family members or don't have the monies to stay at a hotel and so what we wanted to do is to make it very convenient for families, for parents to be able to stay here."

While both child and parent will be able to stay here, certain protocols will be put in place.

Dr. Lisa Johnson, Director, Medical Services, KHMH
"When you are children and parents, you are dealing with children, parents and the rest of the family and the community. This is the national referral hospital. Everything that is done here has national implications, so this unit is extremely important to our national existence. There will be protocol as to how people must be equipped and what they have to do to enter. You cannot see all of that, because right now as I said you are seeing the skeleton of the building. But there will be protocols designed for infection control, as we have in place at this very moment to NICU that we have today."

The unit should be fully completed in July.

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