Alberta Children's Hospital

Name :

Alberta Children's Hospital

Address  :

2888 Shaganappi Trail NW

Town  :

Calgary

State  :

Alberta

Country  :

CANADA

Post Code:

T3B 6A8

Phone  :

403 955 7211

Web URL  :

Available

Email  :

943.Link@calgaryhealthregion.ca.

Description

When the new Alberta Childrens Hospital opened in September 2006 in Calgary Alberta the hospital became the first freestanding pediatric facility to be built in Canada in more than 20 years

The Alberta Childrens Hospital was designed by the people who will use the building the most patients families physicians and staff of the hospital In 2002 architects created renderings of how the hospital could look a multistorey brick building These drawings were brought to the hospitals Teen Advisory Group TAG and changed beyond recognition into a colourful kidfriendly building closely resembling toy building blocks This is how the building looks today as it sits on a hilltop overlooking downtown Calgary the Bow River and the Rocky Mountains

The vision for the Alberta Childrens Hospital was to create a building that would reduce stress and promote healing The interior of the hospital has been designed to enable the delivery of family centred care Children are not just little adults unique and specialized health care teams are required to provide care to this patient population The hospital includes supports for families such as sleeping facilities for parents in each patient room a babysitting service for siblings of patients a sacred space for spiritual activities a pet visitation room and the Healing Gardens that surround the new hospital giving parents and their children areas to heal to have fun and to spend private time

The Alberta Childrens Hospital is used by patients from birth to age 18 from southern Alberta southeastern British Columbia and southeastern Saskatchewan

Vision
Providing excellence in familycentred care

Mission
In partnership with our community we advocate for provide leadership and are committed to providing accessible comprehensive integrated and coordinated health services

Guiding Principles

Familycentred care

Children are not just little adults this is especially true in a health care environment Parents and families participate in treatment decisions postoperative and ongoing care plans as members of multidisciplinary teams This is familycentred care

Health care professionals are the experts on health and disease Families are the experts on their child and can offer essential information to enhance their childs health care The guiding principles of familycentred care are

Respect Parents and other family members deserve the same respect as other
members of the team Families choices should be respected along with their
values beliefs and cultural backgrounds

Information Sharing As important members of the team families are
entitled to timely complete and unbiased information offered in a
supportive way This allows them to make wise decisions about their childs
care

Collaboration Patients and families should be active participants in the
decisions made for their child A family knows their child and the familys
strengths and circumstances Professionals offer medical and other technical
expertise Together the best treatment plans can be created for the patient

Confidence Building Familycentred care programs and services build
families confidence and ability to care for themselves and their child

A Teaching Hospital

The Alberta Childrens Hospital is considered a centre of excellence in pediatric health care We assist in the training of student doctors nurses and other health care professionals from teaching programs around the world While these students are working in the hospital they are under the supervision of hospital staff and your childs personal physician

History

During its early history the Alberta Childrens Hospital primarily served polio and tuberculosis patients who lived in the facility fulltime Today the majority of the patients seen at the facility are treated on an outpatient basis not staying in the facility overnight but visiting their health care teams for ongoing care through the Diagnosis Assessment and Treatment Clinics This clinicbased program has been used as a worldwide model for outpatient care

Junior Red Cross Hospital
In 1922 Alberta Childrens Hospital was known as the Junior Red Cross Hospital It was located in Calgary near the former site of the Alberta Childrens Hospital on 1820 Richmond Road SW An increased demand for childrens healthcare resulted in the hospitals relocation to a second facility also only blocks away from the Richmond Road location In its second location it was renamed the Junior Red Cross Crippled Childrens Hospital

Alberta Crippled Childrens Hospital
The site at 1820 Richmond Road SW Calgary Alberta was adopted in 1952 when provincial and federal grants resulted in the construction of two wings In 1957 the Red Cross discontinued its sponsorship of the facility and the hospital was then registered under the Province of Alberta Societies Act as a nonprofit organization and renamed the Alberta Crippled Childrens Hospital By 1960 the hospital took the name it holds today the Alberta Childrens Hospital and moved under the mandate of the provincial government

Present Alberta Childrens Hospital
The Alberta Childrens Hospital opened to the public on September 27 2006 The 750000 square foot building located on the University of Calgarys West Campus was built with the needs of patients and their families in mind Physicians nurses parents youth children and many others contributed their expertise to the design and planning of the hospital

As well as talking to the community children and youth joined in the planning efforts A volunteer committee known as the Child and Youth Advisory Council CAYAC consisted of 20 young advisors ranging in age from eight to 18 They provided input to the planners on a wide range of issues Feedback on the hospitals design was collected by encouraging children and youth to share their creative talents Children were asked to draw and colour their vision on paper for the Alberta Childrens Hospital

The end result is a stateoftheart facility that helps patients and their families feel at home while they visit Families are able to enjoy features such as

a covered heated walkway so they can leave their coats in the car

sleeping facilities in each of the inpatient rooms

a healthy and diverse menu in the cafeteria and

gardens surrounding the building to allow time for relaxation

The hospital offers excellence in patient care research and teaching combined with the necessities to ensure families are comfortable during their childs stay or visit