Located on 32 acres of the Austin Mueller redevelopment community, all-digital, all-wireless Dell Children’s Medical Center is acclaimed for its combination of “high tech and high touch.” With roots in the Children’s Hospital of Austin, Dell Children’s spans almost 500,000 square feet, and is truly a world-class facility.
Family-Centered Healing
With a mission of “making your kid feel like a kid again,” Dell Children’s Medical Center provides a family-centered approach to healthcare. “Making families comfortable is a major priority,” says Sister Teresa George, vice president and chief operating officer for Dell Children’s. “That’s why we’ve built in a sibling clubhouse and playground, family lounges and an expanded chapel with its own private spiritual viewing garden.” The hospital also incorporates innovative programs like pet and music therapy.
Specialized Facilities for Children
As the singular hospital is unswervingly devoted to pediatric care, Dell Children’s serves a 46-county area. If it is true, as experts claim, that children heal faster when treated in a specialized children’s hospital, then Dell Children’s is the total package. Children’s unique healthcare needs are the focus.
The state-of-the-art facility extends high tech care into every aspect of the hospital. Each floor is divided into patient, work and family zones. Individual waiting rooms for each unit provide families space to spend time together. Nursing stations stand at the ready outside the door of every patient’s room, which are grouped into circular eight-room pods. Patient rooms are thoughtfully equipped with daybeds and work desks (with Internet access) for parents, as well as flat-screen televisions with DVD players.
As a leader in pediatric health care, Dell Children’s Hospital believes that one central junction of pediatric care is essential to professional skill development, as well as quality cost-effective care. The facility follows the belief that every child is entitled to necessary care and attention regardless of ability to pay.
A Green Clean Healing Machine
The Seton Family of Hospitals envisioned a “green” hospital in the conception of Dell Children’s. It is the first hospital in the world to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum Certification, awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED certification requires that buildings be rated in five categories: indoor environmental quality, sustainable site development, water savings, materials selection and energy efficiency.
Dell Children’s Hospital is designed so that sunlight reaches 80 percent of the available inside space, reducing indoor pollutants. The hospital design conserves both water and electricity, while improving air quality and benefiting the healing environment. Indigenous and sustainable building materials form the structure, while a 4.3 megawatt natural gas-fired power plant produces an impressive 100 percent of the hospital’s cooling and heating.
Healthy Mind+Body+Spirit = Healthy Child
Dell Children’s Medical Center boasts features that have led to its description as “breathtaking.” In an effort to heal body, mind and spirit, the hospital has chosen to incorporate a number of modalities. Features include the multi-level Healing Garden, three acres that include a labyrinth, human sundial, reflecting pond and bridge gardens, as well as green spaces and courtyards that echo the seven individual ecosystems which Dell Children’s Hospital serves. Locally and globally sourced art, selected not only for aesthetic enhancement but also for its healing moxie, is located throughout the center and its grounds.
The Austin community is fortunate to have Dell Children’s Medical Center close at hand, offering both simple and complex pediatric care to the area’s children, as well as support for their families.