The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh has received a $1.5 million grant to be used in aiding the renovation of its Pediatric Specialty Hospital.
The Economic Growth Initiative Grant will be used to add 14 private hospital rooms and a new common area complete with a kitchen.
“Over the last couple of years we have been filling our beds, and what we don’t ever want is for a child who needs our services to be on a waiting list,” said Jennifer March, director of External Affairs at the Children’s Home.
The entire project will cost the hospital $5.3 million.
“[The grant] is really going to be a boon to the success of our building project, and I think that it sends a message that this is a very important project to the community,” March said.
The pediatric hospital is the only hospital in Pennsylvania that specializes in outpatient care for children. They care for children who are leaving larger hospitals to give patients and their families transition time to learn how to care for a recovering child.
“So they go through a series of training here with our nursing staff and our social workers, so that when they get home, they’re very comfortable in the care routine of our child and the likelihood of readmitting them to the hospital significantly decreases,” March said.
The renovations began in January, and are expected to be completed by January 2015.
