June 29, 2007

New PICU sparkles at open house

The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) celebrated its grand reopening on the sixth floor of the Bigelow Building with an open house June 11 for MGH employees and the PICU staff's families and friends. Close to 100 people attended the event, which featured remarks by administrators, refreshments and music courtesy of a harpist from the HOPES program.

The new unit represents an expansion of the PICU's former location on the third floor of the Ellison Building. The department now houses 13 single-occupancy intensive care beds — five more than before — and each room contains a sleeping area for parents. Amenities such as a new fish tank and hotel-style safes for parents to store valuables, both courtesy of the Ladies Visiting Committee, make the space welcoming and patient-ready.

Says Brenda Miller, RN, nursing director of the PICU, "The open house was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to see the new unit before our patients arrived. In our new location, the PICU will continue to be a center of healing for the hospital's young patients and their families."