New Golisano children’s hospital to open on Saturday

FORT MYERS, Fla. What started as a $202 million dream will become the new Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida on Saturday.

The hospital will celebrate its grand opening from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 9981 South HealthPark Drive. Festivities include family-friendly activities and a tour of the new seven-story facility, which includes 128 beds, a classroom, an outdoor garden and a chapel.

This expansion also gives the hospital the necessary space to care for more patients, since Golisano is the only children’s hospital between Tampa and Miami. The previous facility was often filled to near capacity, which meant patients were often sent to either Miami Children’s Hospital or Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, officials said.

The neonatal intensive care unit has 64 private rooms, with each room containing breast pumps, a breast milk fridge, a places for the nurses, the baby and a bed for the parents.

Every new detail of the state-of-the-art hospital has been done with a child in mind, including the building lighting up at night with patients having complete control of the colors, said Susan Ryckman, the hospital’s vice-president of patient care.