Full-service children’s hospital in the works

VCU is expanding its landscape once again, and this time the VCU Health System will see a major change in the next few years.

On Nov. 29, 2005, the Children’s Hospital of Richmond and VCU Health Systems announced in a press conference that they were coming together to create a full-service children’s hospital for the downtown area of Richmond.

“This is the best solution for Virginia’s children because combining a world-class teaching hospital with experts in rehabilitation and therapeutic services for children will provide an array of complete care for all children,” said Leslie Wyatt, president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond.

Keynote speakers at this conference included VCU president Eugene P. Trani, Dr. Sheldon Retchin and even Mayor L. Douglas Wilder.

Wyatt said that a full-service children’s hospital will enhance medical care and treatment for children in need.

“Our children need to be protected,” Wyatt said, “and the focus of a full-service children’s hospital leads to higher advocacy for all children in the community.”

Trani said that not only will the new hospital provide care for children but it also will be a training ground for future pediatricians.

“This hospital will be a major training center for the future pediatricians and pediatric sub-specialists in the commonwealth and will be a premier pediatric research center, serving children of all economic backgrounds and groups,” Trani said.

Scott Gullquist, an associate professor of pediatrics who attended the conference, said that a full-service children’s hospital will affect VCU’s medical center in positive ways.

“This will bring up the quality of healthcare for all the kids in Richmond and the Central Virginia area,” Gullquist said. “Any strong children’s hospital enhances the research, recruitment and educational missions, which are all how universities define themselves.”

Jacob A. Neufield, a director of pediatric rehabilitation of Richmond, said that this partnership will combine the experience of a hospital and the research experience and academic training of a university like VCU.

“One of the important things for the children’s hospital is training future physicians,” Neufield said. “VCU and Children’s Hospital will be one of the key centers for training future physicians and pediatric physicians with some specialists in the Richmond metro area.”

Sheldon Retchin, the chief executive officer of the VCU Health System, said that the two institutions will now provide unparalleled multi-specialty customized care for all children.

“We expect to conduct research that leads to major breakthroughs in fetal surgery, immune diseases, cancer, birth defects and heart disease,” Retchin said. “We are dedicated to making the new full-service children’s hospital a great service in providing excellent care for our children.”

The new hospital, according to plan renderings will be located on the block bounded by 10th and 11th, Broad and Marshall streets. Wyatt said the construction of this facility is about to start moving.

“We are about to enter within the next day or so what we’re describing as Phase II, which is detailed financial analysis,” Wyatt said. “From this we can get a much more precise understanding of the projection and performance of the full-service children’s hospital and the financing structure for the hospital.”

Wyatt said, once the pre-planning is complete, it would take a couple of years of planning and another couple of years of constructing, making it about five or more years before it is all completed and the doors will be open.

Trani said that this hospital will be a great investment for VCU’s future.

“This new hospital will fulfill the dream of bringing the highest standard of specialized medicine to the sickest children in our region in a facility designed for and dedicated to the care of the young,” Trani said. “I applaud those who have worked so hard in the planning of this and I look forward to the activity in the months ahead.”

Wyatt said she hopes that this partnership with VCU will make a true difference in the lives of children around Virginia.

“The beauty of this partnership is the corporate step between the Children’s Hospital that has been dedicated to rehabilitation and an academic medical center that already has a track record in research,” Wyatt said. “By having this Children’s Hospital be part of that academic medical center, it will have full access to the research capability.”

Trani said the new hospital will be an important component to the current expansion of research in the VCU School of Medicine led by Dr. Jerome Strauss, dean for the School of Medicine.

“The comprehensive children’s hospital will fulfill the principal mission: state of the art clinical care, teaching, education, research in child health and child advocacy,” Trani said.