Vanderbilt University Announces Children’s Hospital Expansion Plans

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Officials at Vanderbilt University’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital have announced that they will add a four-story expansion to the current facility. The approximately 160,000-square-foot expansion will bring inpatient capacity to more than 300 and space to nearly 1 million square feet. The new tower will be built on top of the southeast façade.
“As we recognize the seismic economic forces impacting hospitals and health systems across the nation, we have chosen to make a strategic investment to increase Vanderbilt’s support for the unique health care needs of children throughout the region,” said Jeff Balser, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, in a statement. “The space and programs created in this expansion will allow Children’s Hospital to catapult forward as a national leader in health care, research and clinical training.”
Services at the hospital, which opened in early 2004, are in great demand. The hospital saw approximately 225,000 patients in the clinics and the hospital’s pediatric emergency department cared for 55,000 children. The expansion will help better care for child patients and meet the increasing demand for services, according to hospital officials.
“The need for this construction reflects an ever-increasing demand for the diverse array of services provided by our faculty and staff. Patients, families and referring physicians recognize that Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital provides the highest quality of care in an optimal environment for both the most simple and most complex medical conditions that can affect children of all ages. This expansion will facilitate the growth we feel is necessary to continue to meet this demand,” said Steven Webberthe, chair of the department of pediatrics and pediatrician-in-chief for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, in a statement.
Construction on the four-story tower is expected to being in 2015.