Children with medically complex conditions represent an estimated three million children who account for 40% of Medicaid spending on children. Growing at 6% annually, they are among the most rapidly growing sectors of the pediatric population.
As hospitals struggle to manage costs and resources, moving children with such maladies through a continuum of care is critical to meeting the clinical, social, and emotional needs of this population and their families.
There are over 14,000 children with medical complexities in Illinois alone, where, in late October, Almost Home Kids—an organization that provides transitional care in home-like settings for children with complex medical needs, as well as training and respite care for their families—opened its third location in the country, on the Peoria campus of OSF Healthcare Children’s Hospital of Illinois, the state’s third-largest pediatric hospital.
Almost Home Kids also operates 12-bedroom houses facilities in Naperville, Ill., and Chicago. The three facilities were funded entirely by community and business donations.
Stantec assisted in the design, medical planning, and interiors of the 22,000-sf Almost Home Kids in Peoria, which is the first implementation of the organization’s national prototype. Stantec worked with a panel of Almost Home Kids clinicians and families during the design and site adaptation processes.
Almost Home Kids provides training to help families care for their sick chlidren. Image: Ballogg Photography
“This is much more than just a project for us,” says Rebel Roberts, FAIA, RIBA, FACHA, Practice Leader for Design at Stantec. “It’s a positive healing space and a comforting home where families feel relieved and welcome. We hope this prototype continues to get adopted and we see more Almost Home Kids facilities throughout the country, because they truly are remarkable.”
In an interview with BD+C, Roberts elaborates that neither of Almost Home Kids’ first two facilities—a renovated house in Naperville and a midrise build-to-suit within a relatively tall building in downtown Chicago—was a suitable model for expansion into other cities. The Peoria house, on the other hand, is a ground-up, freestanding unit, for which Stantec did mockups and drawings. The plan is scalable, says Roberts, and can be attuned to a market’s local climate.
Children at the Almost Home Kids at OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois receive 24-hour medical and nursing support from skilled pediatric nurses. The organization helps train family members to provide the best care for their children, including how to operate and maintain the child’s home medical equipment, prepare medications and treatments, and maximize government support systems such as home modifications and/or obtaining home nursing hours.
The organization’s website states that it took “several years of planning, collaboration, and construction” with the hospital to complete the $8.5 million Peoria facility, whose general contractor was Core Construction and engineer was IMEG. Almost Home Kids has stated previously its intention to expand nationally and open new facilities across the country, but has not disclosed its timetable or proposed locations.
Related Stories
Healthcare Facilities | Oct 23, 2015
Mortenson study: Healthcare providers optimistic, but want changes to Affordable Care Act
The 2015 Mortenson Healthcare Industry Study found that 76% of providers are at least optimistic about the future of healthcare, but eight out of 10 would like to see changes made to ACA.
Healthcare Facilities | Sep 29, 2015
The ever changing physician real estate market
In the United States, the environment where outpatient healthcare is being delivered is as dynamic and diverse as the more high profile office and retail markets, writes CBRE Healthcare's Nelson Udstuen.
Healthcare Facilities | Sep 21, 2015
5 reasons healthcare organizations are implementing finish standards on construction projects
The desire for improved patient satisfaction, staff retention, and turn-key maintenance are among the top reasons more healthcare groups are implementing finish standards in their spaces, according to VOA Associates' Lauren Andrysiak.
Healthcare Facilities | Sep 11, 2015
Health Product Declaration Collaborative releases updated HPD Open Standard – Version 2.0
Advances transparent disclosure of building product contents
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 28, 2015
Hospital construction/renovation guidelines promote sound control
The newly revised guidelines from the Facilities Guidelines Institute touch on six factors that affect a hospital’s soundscape.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 28, 2015
7 (more) steps toward a quieter hospital
Every hospital has its own “culture” of loudness and quiet. Jacobs’ Chris Kay offers steps to a therapeutic auditory environment.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 28, 2015
Shhh!!! 6 ways to keep the noise down in new and existing hospitals
There’s a ‘decibel war’ going on in the nation’s hospitals. Progressive Building Teams are leading the charge to give patients quieter healing environments.
Mixed-Use | Aug 26, 2015
Innovation districts + tech clusters: How the ‘open innovation’ era is revitalizing urban cores
In the race for highly coveted tech companies and startups, cities, institutions, and developers are teaming to form innovation hot pockets.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 19, 2015
5 brand-building strategies in the outpatient environment
No longer coasting off of reputation, leading organizations are using new ambulatory care centers to re-brand for the future of healthcare, writes CannonDesign's Jocelyn Stroupe.
Healthcare Facilities | Aug 18, 2015
Transforming the patient-clinician experience in retail healthcare: 5 'flips' to consider
Flip the Clinic is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project invented to transform the patient-clinician experience. In their language, “flips” are actionable ideas for change, writes Gensler's Tama Duffy Day.