Shands for Kids Stories

Imagine being a kid with cancer. If you need a bone-marrow transplant, you are confined to your hospital room for about 30 days. Then you return to the hospital every day for weeks to receive more treatments. Or if you have a heart transplant, your body is more susceptible to germs and you need a proper environment in which to recover. At Shands Children’s Hospital at the University of Florida, construction is underway for a new home that will welcome these patients and others to a new colorful and kid-friendly space.
A new Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Immunocompromised Unit opening in June will combine many services and treatments that will optimize the experience of our pediatric patients. This patient group will include all cancer and bone-marrow-transplant patients, children with immunological problems, sickle-cell disease and solid-organ transplants. In April, the outpatient clinic – including the infusion center – relocated to this floor as well.
“Our division is extremely excited to be moving into the new combined inpatient and outpatient immunocompromised unit,” said William B. Slayton, MD, University of Florida College of Medicine pediatric hematologist/oncologist. “This unit will enhance patient care in a number of ways. The outpatient unit will allow our team to see our patients in a clinic that is immediately adjacent to the inpatient unit. This will make it easier to admit patients who arrive to clinic with serious infections or other problems.”
All rooms in this unit will be equipped with private rest rooms and air-flow devices that minimize infections. Each room will have a 32” flat-screen TV with two game systems to help with physical activity.
A dedicated high-tech activity room will be in the inpatient unit. Equipped with three 42” flat-screen TVs and every game system imaginable, this new activity room will provide an escape for kids.
“I hope this activity room is able to provide patients and families with a brighter day,” said Tim Tebow, former University of Florida quarterback. Tebow is cofounder of the First and 15 organization, the group who funded the activity room.
“The clinic has a larger infusion room that will accommodate more children and an additional room to perform other complicated infusions,” Slayton said. “The nurses will receive special training to serve this population.”
Each treatment area will have a 15” flat-screen TV and a Playstation3 game. Parents will have an area to sit and catch up on e-mails and take a coffee break.