Expanding Children's HealthCare Capability

Levine Children's Hospital Approaches Completion

Carolinas Medical Center’s campus skyline is rapidly changing, as the final stages of construction on the $85 million Levine Children’s Hospital are completed.

More than an addition or wing, Levine Children’s Hospital is a stand-alone, state-of-the-industry hospital, totally dedicated to pediatric medicine and designed with all aspects of children’s health and wellness in mind. From a clinical perspective, the facility offers the full range of pediatric specialties and medical capabilities one would expect in what will be the largest children’s hospital between Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

Architects and project leaders incorporated a “family-centered care” concept into the overall design, recognizing that family members play a vital role in the process of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and healing. The environment is radically different from the traditional hospital setting, with contemporary elements including interactive exhibits, and bright, spacious common areas included in the hospital’s overall design.

A separate, dedicated entrance from the main hospital distinguishes Levine from the primary campus, and family comfort rooms, a resource center and lounges are well-appointed with conveniences including computer workstations and other “creature comforts.”

Carolinas HealthCare System’s commitment to children, demonstrated by the opening of the Levine Children’s Hospital, is more important now than ever. More than half a million children live in the 28-county region surrounding Charlotte with 100,000 additional children projected to be born or move into the region by 2015. Without the proper planning and facilities like Levine, there would be no pediatric healthcare facility in the area that could accommodate that kind of growth.

The 234 bed facility will lead the region in pediatric medical technology and will feature:

• 32 pediatric specialties
• Neonatal Care Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery (NICN) with Level IV regional referral center designation
  • Neonatal Progressive Care Nursery (NPCN) with enhanced family support space, overnight rooms and meeting space
  • Neonatal Home Management Program (winner of JCAHO’s 2001 Ernest A. Codman Award for excellence in the use of outcomes measurement to achieve healthcare quality improvement)
  • The only ECMO heart-lung bypass system for neonates in the region
• Pediatric Cardiac Care
  • The only pediatric catheterization lab in the region
  • The only pediatric cardiovascular surgery and heart transplant program in the region
  • The region’s only dedicated pediatric cardiovascular recovery unit
• Pediatric Surgery Children's Pre-Operative and Recovery Center
  • The only pediatric anesthesia program in the region
  • The region's only kidney and liver transplant program
  • State-of-the-art pediatric intensive care unit (PICU)
• Children’s Diagnostic Center (including basic imaging services, cardiac and neurodiagnostics)
• Day hospital including an infusion center and infusion therapy procedure room for cancer patients