One of only eight of its kind in California, the Miller Children’s Hospital is a community-owned nonprofit organization in the midst of a nearly-$200M expansion that will make it one of the nation’s finest. All the attention is nice, but the main goal remains providing the best care possible to the hospital’s bosses: You.
A 50-inch LCD flatscreen hangs on the office wall across from the desk of Mel Marks, M.D., where the Chief Administration Officer of Miller Children’s Hospital can monitor the construction of a brand new four-story building that will be completed next September.
“Cool, isn’t it?” he says, viewing a live webcam overlooking the construction site. Lights flash and workers bustle around the four-story skeleton that will soon be one of California’s most advanced children’s care facilities. Marks flips over to it from time to time to view its progression (and if you click here, you can too!), but you get the feeling that the tool is just as useful for making sure the guys in hardhats stay busy.
With a few clicks of the mouse, the screen becomes a crystal ball and brings up rendered designs of the building’s future facilities: state-of-the-art care from maternity to infancy, specially equipped children’s surgery rooms, and color. Lots of color.
“The environment we create has got to be one that is engaging, distracting and not fearful,” Marks says. “When we first started down this journey, we envisioned it with the idea that kids and families have the greatest ideas.”
Which is how the castle theme came to be. What could be more safe to a child than his or her very own castle? The design created by the architects of Taylor & Associates has already garnered national attention for its unapologetic creativity, complete with waving pennants and daunting towers worthy of Camelot.
Architectural rendering of a second floor corridor with roof garden views
This building – located right next to the original, 40-year-old MCH building – really is all about the kids. It’s about creating the most comfortable environment possible with play areas, interactive games and plenty of diversions from the real-world suffering that many in the hospital’s care endure. The castle will house highly specialized equipment that make it perfect for rare and complicated cases – a full service imaging center will be the only one in the region that is specifically used for children. Research and education are the names of the game in the building that better resembles a science museum than a hospital.
“They’re not your traditional investigation units, they will focus more on critical care,” says Marks, who points out that most care is moving away from larger facilities like this one to outpatient clinics or homecare by families. This wasn’t always the case, but progressive technology and education methods have made it easier for others to handle more medical cases outside of the hospital, leaving the main facility to focus on specialized situations.
“If and when they need something very complicated, that’s what the hospital is for,” he says.
Front view of the new 124,000 square foot inpatient pavilion under construction at Miller Children’s Hospital
But the new addition will drastically help the children hospital’s ability to help all comers, regardless of the condition – or money. Since Miller Children’s Hospital is a community-owned nonprofit organization, priority number one is providing top-notch service to anyone in Long Beach who needs it.
“The new project represents not only community ownership but a community icon,” Marks says, pointing out that the expansion was needed and approved due to the city’s rapid population growth and therefore, demand. Relying on fundraisers and local philanthropy, the hospital has received heartwarming support from Long Beach residents who have helped the hospital raise $21 million for the project – just $3 million shy of their goal with more than a year of construction ahead. The hospital, and Marks in particular, recognizes the overwhelming community support and is determined to return the favor through service.
“We offer more value than others in terms of health and wellness of the community,” he says. “Our mission does not exclude any child or expectant mother regardless of anything, including pay.”
It’s an open-door philosophy that has earned Miller’s the reputation of being one of the nation’s very best places for children’s care. Delivering 6,000 babies and admitting 8,000 children per year don’t hurt, either. But the new expansion, all 129,000 square-feet of it, is sure to catapult the castle/sanctuary into a new level of care that wasn’t possible when the space was a parking structure.
That transformation will be complete in September of 2009, and when the doors finally open in December (hospital certification typically takes three months), Long Beach’s very own Miller Children’s Hospital will stand alone as Southern California’s best option for childcare from maternity and on. That is the reputation that MCH seeks – one based on quality service and comfort rather than flaunting and flash.
“It’s not about white coats and looking fancy,” Marks says. “It’s about saving a life and providing quality care.”
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By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor
The new inpatient pavilion at Miller Children’s Hospital rise up next to the existing hospital on the Atlantic Avenue side of the medical center
Steel workers take a break to meet the patients who will benefit from their hard work on the new inpatient pavilion at Miller Children’s Hospital