Contact:
Natasha Orrick
(612) 813-6614 (phone)
(612) 396-3234 (cell)
Natasha.Orrick@childrensmn.org

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota Opens State-of-the-Art Children’s Specialty Center

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (June 24, 2009) – Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota today celebrated the grand opening of a new Children’s Specialty Center, marking the completion of the first phase of the largest expansion in the hospital’s history.

Located at, 2530 Chicago Ave. S., directly across the street from the existing Minneapolis campus, the new five-story Children’s Specialty Center will centralize several of Children’s outpatient specialties, including cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and genetics. The space will also house the Hematology/Oncology Clinic and within it the new C.H. Robinson Infusion Center, the largest pediatric infusion center in the Upper Midwest.

“The completion of the Children’s Specialty Center will enhance the leading-edge care that Children’s has provided for more than 85 years,” said Alan L. Goldbloom, MD, president and CEO, Children’s of Minnesota. “This is an important milestone that will make a real difference in the lives of the children and families we serve.”

The Children’s Specialty Center features larger private patient rooms, more comfortable waiting and play areas for families and patient siblings, ample parking, and Marketplace – a retail and pharmacy space where families can purchase medical supplies and other necessities.

“Every detail in the design of the new building was based on input from patient families, nurses, physicians and staff members,” added Goldbloom.

The Children’s Specialty Center is also part of an ongoing commitment by Children’s to enhance and revitalize the Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis. The new facility uses architecture, landscaping and public art to enhance the area along Chicago Ave. Features that will be incorporated into the site include solar light sculptures created by artist Brad Goldberg, a healing garden, specially designed blade art lighting along the plaza and sidewalk, public art displays and a custom bus shelter.

A grand opening program featured remarks by Goldbloom along with Minneapolis Mayor, R.T. Rybak, and Angie Freeman, vice president of investor relations and public affairs at C.H. Robinson. Children at the event planted flowers to commemorate the grand opening. The public was also able to tour the new space, learn about the specialties offered by its tenants, and enjoy family-friendly activities and entertainment.

In 2007, Children’s launched a three-year initiative to transform its hospital sites in Minneapolis and St. Paul into highly innovative health care campuses that provide the most advanced and safest pediatric care possible in the most caring and comfortable environment for each child and family.

At Children’s – Minneapolis, work is still in progress on an inpatient expansion, including enhanced operating rooms and a new emergency department, neonatal intensive care unit and cardiovascular center. The emergency department is tentatively scheduled to open Fall 2009.

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Serving as Minnesota’s children’s hospital since 1924, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is the seventh -largest pediatric health care organization in the United States, with 332 staffed beds at its two hospitals in St. Paul and Minneapolis. An independent, not-for-profit health care system, Children’s of Minnesota provides care through more than 14,000 inpatient visits and more than 200,000 emergency room and other outpatient visits every year. Children’s is the only Minnesota hospital system to provide comprehensive care exclusively to children and in 2008 it was ranked among the best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.

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