St. E's in Boardman to have pediatric wing

It will be a joint effort between HMHP and Akron Children's Hospital.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- A few months after the new St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center opens, a unit devoted to pediatric care will open its doors.
The unit is an outgrowth of the affiliation between Humility of Mary Health Partners and Akron Children's Hospital.
The two health facilities began working together in February 2005 to strengthen pediatric services for children in the Mahoning Valley.
Dr. Elena Rossi, chief of pediatrics at St. Elizabeth, said the affiliation formed to look at pediatric care in the Valley for the future.
"As HMHP is building the new hospital in Boardman, the first new hospital in the area in many years, the idea was born to make sure to provide pediatric inpatient care in a way that hasn't been done by HMHP," Dr. Rossi said.
HMHP is building the new hospital at Market Street and McClurg Road, the first full-service inpatient hospital in the Mahoning Valley in about 50 years.
Plans
The seven-floor hospital is to open in July 2007 with the pediatric floor expected to open that fall.
The cost of the 20-bed pediatric unit, housed on the seventh floor, is projected at about $7 million, hospital officials said. The total cost of the new hospital is about $80 million.
"Partnering with Akron Children's Hospital on this latest endeavor will enable us to provide an even wider range of specialized care to children," Genie Aubel, president of St. Elizabeth Boardman Campus and post-acute services, said in a news release.
Dr. Rossi said the partnership also means that board-certified pediatricians, who specialize in caring for children while they are hospitalized, will be on site to consult with the primary care physicians of pediatric patients seven days per week.
It will be staffed by pediatric nurses as well.
When it opens, the pediatric unit will provide family-centered rooms where family members may stay the night while their children are hospitalized, Dr. Rossi said.
Laundry and shower facilities for family members will be provided as well as flat-screen televisions, video games and Internet access for patients. HMHP officials have said that the new hospital is being designed to optimize patient comfort.
It also will include a 12-bed intensive care unit, five surgery suites and 96 beds for general medical and surgical patients, the hospital said.