Introducing: The Battle Building at UVA Children’s Hospital
Consolidating Pediatric Outpatient Services Under One Roof
The Battle Building at UVA Children’s Hospital welcomed its first visitors at a grand opening event on Saturday, June 14. Bringing together several pediatric outpatient services, the new facility is a central hub for interdisciplinary care that will provide children and families, especially those with complex medical needs, the best possible healthcare experience.
“Moving the services now provided at various locations to the Battle Building will help us become more efficient and better equipped to respond to the needs of our patients at UVA Children's Hospital,” says James P. Nataro, MD, PhD, Director of Children’s Services, UVA Children’s Hospital.
Easy Access to Quality Care
The 200,000-square-foot, seven-story Battle Building will be home to more than 30 pediatric specialty clinics, including but not limited to:
- Infusion
- Hematology/Oncology
- Neurosurgery
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Pulmonary
- Dentistry
- Diagnostic Radiology
- Outpatient Rehabilitation and Therapy
- Teen and Young Adult Health
- Maternal and Fetal Medicine
Services are organized in “neighborhoods,” so several specialties that a child might require are adjacent to each other. For example, one neighborhood is home to orthopedics, physical and occupational therapy and developmental pediatrics.
There is a dedicated clinical trials suite that gives families easy access to novel treatments for complex conditions. Also on site: a new Outpatient Surgery Center with 12 operating rooms; 36 pre- and postoperative rooms; and a pediatric recovery area.
More Than Brick and Mortar
When UVA Children’s Hospital set out to create this new space to care for children and their families, careful consideration was given to its look and feel. “Children should receive all the care they need in a way that is not frightening or intimidating,” says Nataro.
To make the space welcoming for young patients, architects and planners found inspiration in storybooks. Each floor of the new building features imagery and interactive activities based on popular children’s books. Outdoors, families will find tree-lined paths dotted with sculptures of Lewis and Clark and adventures befitting these famous explorers.
To learn more about the Battle Building and to get a sneak peek, watch the video below.
Introducing the Battle Building
Over the last few years, there's been a move nationwide to try to provide more pediatric services on an outpatient basis. So what we're doing is we're taking services that are currently localized in five different places, and we're going to put them all together in the Battle Building. And we're going to give an experience that is the most efficient, coordinated, child-friendly, and family-friendly environment that we possibly can.
So one of the challenges in caring for kids is that often facilities and equipment designed for adults are not easily used in the care of children. And this is one of the great advantages of the Battle Building, is that this will be a pediatric-committed, dedicated facility where all the facilities and equipment and rooms and the design for children and their families. UVA Children's Hospital has all the important pediatric, surgical, diagnostic and support set of specialties, but we have them here, in central Virginia, close to home so you don't feel like you have to go into a big city that difficult to navigate, where you may have to stay for some days in order to seek care for a child for a complicated medical condition. We have all of this right here in Charlottesville in a way that makes it very, very approachable and convenient for patients and their families. In addition, we have an outpatient surgery center that has a dedicated pediatric space that is unique to this region and we have the most passionate staff that I have ever encountered anywhere.
They are very very committed to the cause of keeping children well and making children well.
We expect to open this building in mid-2014 and I'll say it's been a fantastic experience watching this whole process come together. The architects, the engineers, project managers, administrative staff have all been fantastic and they've all been energized by the opportunity to help kids. It's been a remarkable experience for all of us.
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