These pictures just came to me from our friends at AeroMed.  I think it's pretty impressive to see how the skyline of Grand Rapids has changed with the addition of the new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital .

You can see that quite a bit has changed since these were taken.  The big crane along the side has since been taken down and we no longer have green leaves to look at.  You might wonder what all of the stuff on the roof is.  These are materials that were being staged before the final parts of the roof were put in place.  

Quite a few people have asked me if AeroMed will land on the new children's hospital and the answer is "no."  Because we operate our trauma service in conjunction with Spectrum Health Medical Center we will continue to use the helipad located on the top of the center tower at Butterworth Hospital.  About 600 pediatric patients are treated by our trauma service each year of which nearly 300 have sustained severe or multiple injuries.

We recently celebrated a milestone in the building of the new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital: the installation of the chapel skylight.

On the 11th floor, which is dedicated to family amenities, there is going to be a beautiful circular non-denominational chapel. The 600-square-foot chapel is designed to give families a beautiful private space to reflect, pray and seek comfort.

The skylight for the chapel was hoisted up on a large crane in late November. We think the chapel will be a very special place for families during what can be difficult times and we hope families take comfort in the natural light from the sky above. The pastoral care department will be located near the chapel for consultation and resources as well.

Have you ever thought about how all of the information flows through a huge building?  This picture shows the "information superhighway" of more than 750 miles of network wiring (or the distance from Grand Rapids to Boston, MA) that will be hidden behind the walls and under the ceilings in the new hospital. 

Our goal is to create a truly digital hospital with real time medical information transmitted electronically so that from the patient and family's perspective, there is a seamless experience.  We have teams of people working to computerize all medical information including everything from the pre-registration systems, admitting process, discharge planning and all of the systems in between.

We will be implementing computerized order entry so that a physician's orders for medications or other treatments are immediately received by the next caregiver or department that will be involved in the patient's care.  We hope that our patients and families will notice how coordinated their care experience is from beginning to end.

Here is a "sneak peak" at some colors in the new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) on the third floor of the new hospital.  The team chose colors that are soft to create a more soothing environment for the critically ill and premature babies that will be cared for here.

The expanded NICU will be connected by a hallway to the original Neonatal Center on the third floor of Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.  The additional 40-bed NICU will be arranged in four "neighborhoods" to make it easy for parents to find their way and also to identify with a community of other families who are staying on the unit.

Our Neonatal Center is the 10th largest in the nation with 103 beds.  With an average stay of 28 days, families often make long lasting friendships with others who are sharing a similar experience.  The expanded NICU has been designed to encourage families to get the support and respite they need in a nurturing environment for their baby.

Now the countdown really begins- 365 days until we care for children in the new Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. Today we are marking the occasion with a series of open forums for the more than 1,000 staff members who will be part of care in the new building.

On Friday night I had the opportunity to walk through all of the units to invite staff to these events.  What I heard over and over again was how thankful and excited the staff are to move into their new home.  They are looking forward to having more isolation rooms to keep children in controlled environments who need it. They are planning specific ways to welcome families as they enter each floor.  There are so many aspects of this move that will make it easier to heal, comfort and cure children.

We are all overwhelmed with the opportunity to be part of this new era of children's health care in west Michigan.

Listen to Bob Connors, MD, president, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital on Tommy and Brook from STAR 105.7 this morning talking about the new hospital.