The Lee Memorial Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida manifests the vision of the Lee Memorial Health System to expand their pediatric healthcare from a “hospital within a hospital” to a 160-bed, free-leaning children’s hospital. Located on the existing Health Park’s campus, the new consolidated building exemplifies the project’s primary guiding principles of embodying a recognizable and regional brand providing Tier 1 services that are patient-, family,- and caregiver-focused.

The project was comprised of four principal components consisting of the Children’s Pavilion (293,505 SF), expansion for the central energy plant (8,004 SF) to support the Children’s Pavilion, various renovation and enabling projects to the existing HealthPark Medical Center (88,508 SF), and the addition of a parking garage (109,155 SF). The new children’s hospital is uniquely designed as an integrated part of the existing campus.

The new seven-story, 300,000-SF children’s hospital was built to co-locate all children’s departments in a comprehensive medical facility, addressing the growing need for pediatric services within the community. The hospital opened with 128 beds, and has the capacity (within shelled space) to expand to 160 in the future. The hospital features a pediatric emergency department located on the second level with a service ramp separate from the surface parking. Other services located in the new facility include pediatric surgical services, pediatric intensive care, neonatal intensive care, pediatric acute care, hematology and oncology care, outpatient clinics, pharmacy, and diagnostic imaging services.

The tower, which is designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, provides parking on the first two levels and patient services on the remaining upper levels. The renovations to the HealthPark Medical Center provided greater efficiency for both the children’s and adult hospitals. The renovations included relocating the existing catheterization labs, consolidating surgical services including the build-out of four shelled operating rooms, a relocated and expanded MRI, pediatric sedation unit, and a new public connection to the children’s tower.