Our Children's House at Baylor to Hold Grand Opening Celebration for New Expansion
Hospital Doubles in Size, Adds Needed Clinical Services
Contact: Ashley Howland, 214-820-7540Email: ashlehow@baylorhealth.edu
(DALLAS, Jan. 2, 2007)- Our Children's House at Baylor (OCH) will open its doors to patients and donors as it celebrates the grand opening of its new wing on Jan. 9. The flight-themed event will feature tours of the new facility and a special guest presentation by Astronaut William S. McArthur, Jr., a veteran of four space missions aboard shuttles Columbia (1993), Atlantis (1995), Discovery (2000) and Expedition 12 (2005-2006).
Established in 1993, OCH provides comprehensive services to children with special health care needs. OCH is designed to ease the transition from acute-care facilities to home for medically fragile patients.
The new wing includes 20 new inpatient beds and 12 day beds, as well as additional therapy space, a physician's clinic and a pediatric outpatient surgery facility.
In addition to expanding clinical services, special artwork including an animated airship sculpture and mural series depicting the history of flight has been created to provide an inspirational healing environment.
"At OCH, we've done our best to create an environment of healing, that works hand-in-hand with the care and treatment our patients receive," said Joel Allison, president and CEO, Baylor Health Care System. "Our patients will receive quality clinical care in an inspiring environment. The children will be able to look from their beds and see images of flight that will let their active imaginations wander, instead of the white walls seen in many hospitals."
The expansion comes in response to a mounting waiting list of families needing the services OCH provides. With the new expansion, OCH will continue to provide quality inpatient and outpatient care - with more space, higher capacity and shorter waiting lists. The new facility will provide space and structure through private feeding rooms and play therapy areas designed to allow families to actively participate in their child's treatment. These services will help equip families with the emotional and spiritual tools and the skills needed to monitor their child's progress, plan further treatment if necessary and continue care once the child is back at home.
The $14 million expansion project received over $5 million in philanthropic support. Donors contributing more than $100,000 to the OCH expansion project include: Crystal Charity Ball, Meadows Foundation, United Surgical Partners International and Don and Trudi Steen, Pauline Allen Gill Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold E. Petsche, The A.L. Chilton Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Donald J. Carter, The Ginger Murchison Foundation, IPA Foundation, Hawn Foundation, and Mr. and Mrs. Barry G. Andrews.
"Our Children's House at Baylor was founded on philanthropy, and this expansion is a shining example of what can be accomplished for our community if more people give," said Rowland K. Robinson, president, Baylor Health Care System Foundation. "Without philanthropy, Our Children's House - not just the expansion, but the facility as a whole - would not exist."
Our Children's House at Baylor, a licensed, not-for-profit children's hospital, was founded with a mission to provide coordinated comprehensive services to children with special health care needs. This technologically advanced hospital with a relaxed, home-like environment treats patients from infancy to 18 years of age, emphasizing education and training for family members. Since the founding of the original hospital, OCH has opened outpatient centers in Allen, Coppell, Dallas, Frisco, Grapevine, Irving, Rockwall and Waxahachie.
Since 1978, Baylor Health Care System Foundation has raised funds to provide philanthropic support for essential needs of the Baylor Health Care System. Through a wide range of fundraising events and opportunities, Baylor Foundation donors are united by a single, simple passion: To serve, care for and improve the health and lives of the people in our communities.