Arkansas Children’s on Tuesday unveiled its new Champions Pavilion, lobby and gallery at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.
Champions Pavilion is a 157,000-square-foot, three-story facility designed to emphasize a family’s perspective and needs and engineered to solve capacity constraints, according to a press release.
The new lobby and gallery bring essential family services to the front of the hospital, creating an experience that’s easier to navigate. D
“This expansion is a welcoming new front door for our entire system,” said Arkansas Children’s President & CEO Marcy Doderer. “By streamlining access, we are delivering an experience that minimizes wait times and replaces uncertainty with peace of mind. It is a privilege to pair our clinical expertise with the most sophisticated, contemporary approaches to care. We aren’t simply opening a building; we are inviting our community into the future of the patient experience.”
To date, the Arkansas Children’s Foundation has raised more than $35 million for ACH’s expansion, anchored by lead gifts from B. Thomas Golisano and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Auxiliary.
Key features of the expansion include:
- Expansion from 16 to 26 exam rooms, featuring eight individual casting rooms and three on-site X-ray/EOS imaging suites. The program now includes a state-of-the-art rehab space, complete with a turf field, track and a regulation wooden basketball court, to help young athletes return to play safely.
- A market-leading outpatient surgery facility featuring eight operating rooms with the ability to expand.
- A state-of-the-art Pediatric Clinical Research Unit bringing cutting-edge science closer to children and families. With up to 16 private rooms and a dedicated food allergy prep kitchen, the PCRU allows Arkansas families to access emerging treatments — including gene therapy and new biologics for asthma and allergies — years before they reach the general market. A new 5,000-square-foot automated lab drastically reduces wait times for critical diagnoses.
The system-wide expansion also includes a 72,000-square-foot addition at Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale, scheduled to open in phases through this fall. The hospital will expand to 40 inpatient beds to support growing demand in northwest Arkansas.
Within two years of completing the expansion, the number of expert providers is expected to grow by 40 percent at ACH and 70 percent at ACNW, the release stated.
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