The fourth floor of Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, has been transformed into the Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. The project team includes DesignGroup and Messer Construction.
More than 1,400 critically ill and premature infants come to the hospital each year. Many of these patients are in need of cardiac care. The CICU redesign is one piece of the $78.3-million Norton Healthcare investment in the Children’s Hospital. The renovation project, expected to be complete in 2022, will total more than 101,000 square feet.
The new CICU is part of a jigsaw puzzle of renovations, including the creation of a new 7,000-square-foot conference center on the first floor. Moving the conference center from the sixth floor to the first floor created space to accommodate a 24-bed medical and surgical unit, which had been on the fourth floor. The pediatric intensive care unit, which is also being renovated, will remain on the fourth floor with the new CICU. The neonatal intensive care unit has also been renovated, and opened in February 2020.
The Jennifer Lawrence CICU includes three neonatal rooms and 14 private CICU patient rooms, along with a new family dedicated gathering space, which serves as a focal point providing families with opportunities for connection and respite.
The NICU renovation converted an existing ward-style unit to a 29-bed, family centered model of care. Aligned with an addition to the north side of the facility, the NICU offers a new entry sequence that includes a greeter station, a family respite zone, family amenities and the milk lab for the entire facility.
With the opening of the Jennifer Lawrence CICU, the architect and construction teams will turn their focus to renovations of the “Just for Kids” Critical Care Center and creating a more patient-centric imaging department and entrance set to open in Summer 2020.
Photos courtesy © Lauren K Davis Photography.
