Nemours Opening its Child-Friendly Doors This Fall
Nemours Children’s Hospital will soon swing open its child-friendly doors in Orlando, providing a facility for Central Florida with a mission to “bring best-in-class children’s health care, prevention and research.”
The new location is the second Nemours Children’s Hospital funded under the terms of American industrialist, financier and philanthropist Alfred I. duPont’s will. In 1940, the first pediatric orthopedic hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, opened. Today, Nemours has grown to become one of the nation’s largest integrated pediatric health systems, providing care in the Delaware Hospital and at least 30 clinics in the Delaware Valley as well as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
The 95-bed Orlando facility is located on 60-acres close to the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Burnham Institute for Medical Research, Orlando Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of Florida’s Academic and Research Center. Nemours is forming partnerships with those facilities in “Medical City,” which will “inevitably lead to medical breakthroughs that will save and improve lives along with providing a boost to Central Florida’s economy,” says Roger Oxendale, Nemours Chief Executive Officer.
Recently, Oxendale responded to questions about the facility and its mission.
CFHN: According to Nemours, the hospital “has made a promise to stand guard with parents and families, protecting each child’s health and joy.” How does Nemours do that differently than any other children’s hospital?
Oxendale: One of the reasons Nemours will provide care differently is because we have created the Nemours Family Advisory Council. Many of the members have children with chronic medical conditions, so they have extensive experience with pediatric health systems. Nemours believes the involvement of our families will make for better patient and family-centered care in comparison to any other children’s health system.
We call Nemours Children’s Hospital a “hospital in a garden” because we will have a one-acre Discovery Garden in the heart of the hospital grounds and two rooftop gardens where families and patients can be connected to nature the moment they step outside the hospital. All the patient rooms have floor to ceiling windows that provide abundant natural lighting and a view of nature.
Many families will also notice that Nemours is hiring world-class physicians who are bringing specialties to Central Florida that are not currently available here. These specialties include pediatric rheumatology, pediatric interventional radiology and comprehensive pediatric physical and rehabilitation therapy.
CFHN: What does the “Nemours Model of Care” mean to children and their families?
Oxendale: Nemours specialists do more than provide clinical care to children. We are also leaders in research, prevention, and advocacy. These different components form the Nemours model of care. This model enables immediate application of the latest research in our Clinical Care settings; in reverse, the data regarding response to new therapies is collected and studied in our labs and shared among the physicians and scientists connected throughout Nemours.
Prevention programs are implemented in our practice and within the communities we serve. And through a variety of education initiatives, we share our knowledge and expertise in many ways: with children, families, teachers, community members, referring physicians and other health professionals around the world.
CFHN: What else should parents consider when making a decision about where their child should receive care?
Oxendale: We are committed to providing the best experience we can, every time, and feedback from children and families we serve has been vital to helping us develop and evolve our model. Whether we’re at the bedside, an exam room, lab, online or in the classroom, Nemours Model of Care enables us to address and anticipate the needs for the whole health of the child and their family.
The Nemours Children’s Hospital opens this fall at 13535 Nemours Parkway, Orlando.
CREDITS
story by ANITA WHITAKER