See inside construction progress at Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Piedmont Columbus Regional is observing the 8th annual Children’s Hospitals Week from April 8-12. It serves as a time to shine a light on the importance of children’s hospitals across the nation.
This week, Piedmont let WRBL go behind the scenes and tour their newest addition to the Midtown Campus – the Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital.
It’s been a dream of our community to have a freestanding facility. And as you can see, we’re working to make that dream come true.
Aline Lasseter, Executive Director of Philanthropy, Community Outreach and Volunteers at Piedmont Columbus Regional
Construction continues along 19th Street as Piedmont Columbus Regional is gearing up to open the Chattahoochee Valley’s only freestanding children’s hospital.
Comprising 77,137 square feet, the $30 million-dollar project is an entire renovation of the former Doctor’s Hospital building.
There are 26 rooms on this floor with 30 patient beds. There’s five ICU rooms. We also have six intermediate care rooms down this quarter.”
Heidi Harris, Project Manager
The hospital is also the only children’s hospital in the Piedmont system of 22 hospitals across the state.
Aline Lasseter is the Executive Director of Philanthropy for the Piedmont Columbus Regional Foundation. The foundation plans to raise $20 million in community donations for the hospital. But for Aline, this is personal.
I started my career in fundraising because my child at eight months old was a patient [diagnosed with spinal meningitis] in Atlanta at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital and had she not had access to that facility, she wouldn’t be celebrating her 35th birthday. And because of children’s hospitals in Atlanta, I know what it means to have a children’s hospital in your community close by. It meant the world to us and she’s now giving me my first grandson. Without our children’s hospital there, she would not be here. So having this children’s hospital here in Columbus, it’s going to make an impact on so many families.
Aline Lasseter, Executive Director of Philanthropy, Community Outreach and Volunteers at Piedmont Columbus Regional
Some key features of the hospital include an outdoor playground, behavioral safe rooms in the pediatric inpatient unit and an interactive sensory wall. While this project is geared for children, employees say it’s also for the parents.
I think it relieves the burden from all of the parents knowing that they can stay right here in the community. When we don’t have a burden, it makes it easier for you to give everything that you have to your child now to continue to help.
Jonetta Chestnut, Director of Nursing for Women and Children’s Services, Piedmont Columbus Regional
The hospital’s theme is centered around the Chattahoochee River. The design concept intends to break away from the typical adult healthcare system and embrace a hospital from a child’s eyes.
The Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital is on track to open in Fall 2024. For those interested in ways to give back to the Piedmont Columbus Regional Foundation, visit their website here.
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