Beacon Children's Hospital celebrates grand opening

Kids and teens have a new hospital in South Bend. Wednesday marked today the grand opening of the Beacon Children's Hospital. The 100,000-square-foot facility on the Memorial Hospital property took roughly three years to build, but planning began shortly after the new Millenium.

“We’re here to open up the children’s hospital for the next generation of kids,” said Phil Newbold, the CEO of Beacon Health System.

Newbold called the hospital “a destination”: 25 area hospitals refer patients to Beacon Children’s. Additionally, it serves children from over a dozen in North Central Indiana.

“If there’s one thing we want to give the community, it’s this feeling that the children’s hospital here represents hope and hopefulness,” he added.

Hope is emblematic in the firefly figurines hanging in the new, nature-themed atrium. Real flower beds lines the wall. A tree house, where kids can play and parents can recline, overlooks the sunlight space. There is an outdoor garden on the sixth floor in addition to indoor playrooms.

“We selected nature as a good theme because of the healing properties,” said Newbold.

Kristen Collett-Schmitt, of Granger, was a part of the hospital design process. Administrators asked her and parents of other past patients to provide input. In 2010, Collett-Schmitt’s daughter spent 16 days in the NICU at Memorial Hospital after her identical sister died.

“The hospital was really concerned about taking the parents’ feelings, thoughts, and emotions into account because the NICU is such a difficult place to be in,” said Kristen. “Thinking about it in our case, we had lost a daughter, ‘How would you have felt in a hospital like this going through that experience?’”

She and other parents helped name hallways, suggested improvements for the NICU rooms, where mothers and babies will be able to stay in the same room, regardless the infant’s condition.

“To have the ability to be with your baby all the time, which they are now offering in the NICU, is simply amazing. It blows my mind,” she added.

On May 9, Newbold said the pediatric and pediatric intensive care unit will move to the new children’s hospital. Newborn NICU patients will transition to the space on May 10.

Formerly known as Memorial Children's Hospital,

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The new

and opening back in February.