Children’s hospital to provide services, convenience

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Construction crews are working to complete the $242 million Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida, which will bring pediatric services to the region as early as March 2017.

The facility, located off Summerlin Road, is a maze of wood frames and drywall and only 60 percent complete, but is needed to address Southwest Florida’s growing pediatric demands, Chief Administrative Officer Kathy Bridges-Liles said. It will be outfitted with 128 beds for kids who need them.

“Every day we still do not have enough beds to take care of the children in this region,” she said.

Without local resources, many children are sent more than two hours away to the closest children’s hospitals. Bridges-Liles said the commute creates an inconvenience for families.

“If their family had to travel to Tampa and Miami to be with their child it impacts their job, their work life. It impacts the rest of the family. So, our mission is to keep children close to home,” she said.

The new hospital will also give new mothers more intimate options.

“For the first time, parents will be able to stay with their tiny little babies that weigh under a pound, where in the past their wasn’t any place for them to stay.”

Volunteers and donors have raised $95 million to fund the hospital. Bridges-Liles said their donations are an investment in the future.

“Someone once said to me that children may only be a fraction of our population today but they’re 100-percent of our future,” she said.