Supporters of Texas Children’s efforts to treat children with highly contagious infectious diseases gathered last week to applaud the opening of the organization’s Special Isolation Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.
More than 70 people from across the organization and the state attended the unit’s ribbon cutting and open house, during which they got a close-up look at the state-of-the-art facility and heard from people who were critical to the unit’s creation.
“This is an exciting day, a landmark day, in the history of Texas Children’s,” said Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline. “This unit is a real resource for the city of Houston, the state of Texas, for the region, the nation and the world.”
Texas Children’s began working on the unit almost a year ago, shortly after an unprecedented Ebola outbreak that resulted in the realization that we must be prepared to handle emerging infections as an institution. As a result, the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated Texas Children’s Hospital as one of several pediatric Ebola treatment centers countrywide.
Texas Children’s special isolation unit is the only one of its kind in Texas and the southwest region, and is among the few in the United States designated just for children. Located on the fifth floor of West Campus, the eight-bed unit is fully equipped to care for any infant or child with a serious communicable disease and has all of the measures available to assure safety of the health care team, other patients and their families.
Children coming to the special isolation unit will receive top notch care from a team of highly-trained nurses and doctors, led by the unit’s medical director, Dr. Gordon Schutze, associate medical director’s Dr. Judith Campbell and Dr. Amy Arrington, and nursing leader, Sondra Morris.
“I am honored to say that when problems threaten our community and our children, Texas Children’s always leads strong,” said West Campus President Chanda Cashen Chacón. “We do not shy away from those who need us the most.”
More than 70 people gathered for the official ribbon cutting held last week for special isolation unit at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.
