Cohen Children’s Medical Center now has a $110 million, 24,000-square-foot pediatric operating complex. The new complex specializes in cardiothoracic, neurologic and orthopedic procedures as well as general surgery.
Supported by donors – including the Damaghi, Blumenfeld and Feil families – the complex began with the Blumenfeld Family Pavilion, a five-story extension at the hospital built in 2013 that was named in honor of the Blumenfeld family’s lifetime giving to Cohen Children’s.
The master plan for the extension featured space to accommodate the new operating rooms. This complex moved forward thanks to donors, including First Quality Enterprises, a Great Neck-based manufacture. The complex is named for the Damaghi family, long-time Northwell supporters.
“We understand that the surgical and anesthetic needs of neonates, infants, children and adolescents are absolutely unique and quite different than those for adults,” Dr. Charles Schleien, senior vice president and chair of pediatric services at Northwell, said in a statement.
The space comprises eight child-friendly operating-room suites, complete with photo walls designed to create an unintimidating environment. Surgical instruments are initially out of view to instill calm, and patients can listen to music or watch videos before surgery. There are several play spaces throughout the facility.
“The importance of this pediatric surgical operating complex cannot be overstated,” Schleien said, adding that the complex offers a “transformative space for patients, our community and for Northwell.”
Each 600-square-foot operating suite features no-shadow lighting, 3D imaging, four 50-inch monitors and other innovative elements.. Most of the surgical equipment is suspended from a singular boom, helping to reduce the amount of space needed and allows for greater versatility.
Hospital officials say that with this project, wait times for patients will be reduced. And that development will help transform care for more than 8,000 patients a year who seek medical procedures at Cohen Children’s.
Previously, surgeries had taken place in shared ORs at Northwell’s nearby Long Island Jewish Medical Center. And at the height of COVID-19, the unfinished post-anesthesia care unit was converted into units for COVID-19 patients in need of care at the center.
But by late 2021, Northwell moved forward with construction on the complex. Now, in addition to the Damaghi Family Surgical Operating Complex, the center houses the Rudolph Pediatric Emergency Center, the Children’s Medical Fund Center for Diagnostic Studies, patient floors and the Gertrude and Louis Feil Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
“This operating suite is the culmination of so many people’s dreams,” Dr. Jose Prince, surgeon in chief at Cohen Children’s, said in a statement. “It is where we as surgeons work to save and protect the dreams of our patients and their families as we teach surgery to the next generation of pediatric surgeons.”
The complex’s new pediatric post-anesthesia care unit includes 27 120-square-foot recovery bays that include a stretcher for the recovering patient, a physiological monitoring tower, an area for family members with a television for entertainment and a supply cart for nurses caring for the patient.
In addition to the recovery bays, the unit includes a medical playroom, designed to calm the nerves of children prior to surgery, as well as those recovering. The trustees of the Louis and Gertrude Feil Family Charitable Trust made a generous gift to support this project, named the Gertrude and Louis Feil Post-Anesthesia Care Unit in honor of the Feil family.
