Healthcare Design - June/July 2020 - 31

had to feel like a sibling to the inpatient tower," Beltran says of the relationship between the behavioral health pavilion and the main hospital.
"Wayfinding, graphics, colors are all part of the family." The approach
(PlanIt Studios of Worthington, Ohio, assisted in the design) includes
a continuation of an environmental graphics program with a nature
theme, featuring animal friends as a positive distraction-all repeated
but in a manner that's safe and appropriate for the behavioral health environment. "It's not something that can be pulled away from the wall or
that patients could use to harm themselves. It was all accomplished with
paint," Beltran says.
To involve families in the treatment process on a deep level, every patient room includes a parent bed, an integrated component in front of
the window, to accommodate overnight stays."[The family-friendly approach] extends to the lounges that are on every floor between the two
units to a siblings room on the ground floor to an information-sharing
space-it's really an extension of Nationwide Children's commitment to
taking care of families as well as taking care of the child," Pitts says.
Staff are thoroughly supported in the pavilion, as well, with a dedicated
outdoor courtyard for respite, inpatient break room that's the "corner
office" on the units, and a comfort room where clinicians can relax after
an incident and speak with a counselor, Cheshire says. Operationally,
there are no nurses' stations on the inpatient units, known as neighborhoods-instead, the organization chose to create a windowless caregiver
office in the heart of the units where staff can go to take notes, make calls,
etc., and then return to patients.
Also contributing to the experience is an onstage/offstage organization
that was brought over from Nationwide Children's other facilities-another approach that isn't traditionally translated to mental health projects, Pitts notes, but effectively keeps operational components out of
sight from patients and families. "It makes a difference in terms of those
inpatient units and how they're operationalized and how they're experienced," he says. "That's a huge learning for me."
The hope for the environment that exists today-including the wide
corridors, graphics on the walls, and durable finishes that can't be weaponized-is that it will promote the well-being of staff and, in turn, have a
positive effect on care delivery. "The building becomes an instrument that
amplifies the agency of the caregivers; it's part of their toolkit for providing

Environmental graphics
used on the project
maintain the Nationwide Children's brand
but, to support safety
initiatives, are applied
with paint only. This
entry to the psychiatric
inpatient unit features
a sally port and visitor
lockers, as well.

therapy," says Hullinger. "When they need to
be supportive, the building helps them be supportive. When they need to be protective, the
building helps them be protective. And when
the caregivers need to be inspiring, the building
helps them inspire. ... All of that contributes to
an enhanced psychological state for the staff that
helps them provide their best possible care."
HOME RUN

After the $159 million pavilion's completion,
Nationwide Children's hosted what McClimon
calls "96 hours of fun" filled with facility tours,
a donor dinner, and a summit for behavioral
health providers from 60 children's hospitals
across the country. The events together allowed
the staff to share what they'd accomplished with
the new building and understand how it can inform others. "That made our team super proud,
and we recognized that what we've done is
unique across the country," she says.
The days' events also allowed the provider to
capture how meaningful the effort would be for
its own families at home in Columbus, as parents of children who had gone through the program-some graduating and others losing their
children-offered insight on what it feels like to
walk through those doors after a traumatic experience at home. "Thinking about buildings in
that perspective, how do you take care of those
families who are hurting and are in need? That
really took it to a different place for Nationwide
Children's," Cheshire says. 
Jennifer Kovacs Silvis is editor-in-chief of Healthcare
Design. She can be reached at J E N N I F E R .
S I LV I S @ E M E R A L D X . C O M .

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Healthcare Design - June/July 2020

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