Topping Off Ceremony Held at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital

Construction workers recently placed the final steel beam atop the new Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, marking a milestone in the construction of the freestanding building. The beam bearing the signatures of patients, staff, students, volunteers, donors, and community members was hoisted into the air by a crane then carefully lowered and guided into place.

“Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital already offers state-of-the-art care, and soon we will have a facility to match. The strong support we have received from donors and the community as a whole and the hard work of many people, including the construction team, have made this moment possible,” said Harold Paz, M.D., Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center chief executive officer, senior vice president for health affairs for Penn State, and dean, Penn State College of Medicine.

In keeping with the tradition, the beam placed atop Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital was adorned with a small evergreen tree on one end and an American flag on the other.

The completed Children's Hospital is scheduled to open in late 2012. The 252,000-square-foot, five-story facility will include five operating suites designed for surgical care of children and adolescents, an eight-bed surgical recovery area, a cardiac catheterization lab for pediatric heart patients (all located on the second floor), as well as significantly expanded space for pediatric intensive care—vital infrastructure to support the role of Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital as the region's only Level One Pediatric Trauma Center.

The first floor of the new Children's Hospital will include an outpatient pediatric cancer pavilion with eleven infusion rooms and eight exam rooms to support bone marrow transplantation and other therapies vital to treating children with cancer. The first floor also features educational resource centers for families, including a “safety store” and areas for families to learn about childhood illnesses, health and wellness.

The ground floor includes a new pediatric radiology unit, as well as a state-of-the-art blood bank and pharmacy, which will serve both children and adults.

In addition to critical patient care areas, there are several elements planned throughout the new Children's Hospital to provide children and families with a distraction from their worries about illness or injury. These elements include a meditation room, an outdoor roof terrace with green plants, and an interactive learning wall located on the hospital's first floor.

All of the inpatient rooms, which are located on the third and fourth floors, will be private rooms and include space where two parents can comfortably spend the night with their child.

Watch a video of Penn State Hershey Medical Center staff, students and others signing the beam in the days leading up to the ceremony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Wm9SbKDmY.