American Family Children's Hospital

 

 

1ST FLOOR - Main Lobby and the Robert and Jean Rennebohm Diagnostic and Therapy Center

 

Theme: Wisconsin Avenue

 

Walk through the front doors of American Family Children's Hospital and you may not believe your eyes. Hardly what a child or parent might expect upon entering a hospital, this space is reminiscent of a "Town Square" in a typical Wisconsin community.

 

Visitors encounter an almost Disney-like, small-town Wisconsin environment from the moment they step off the elevators. Tractor tire tracks lead you to the security office, with its crimped metal walls designed to look like a grain silo.

Just as the farmland gives way to the city while driving Wisconsin's countryside, a train station "Guest Depot" greets visitors as they turn the corner, along with a pharmacy and gift shop that has the look and feel of an old-time community drug store.

 

Colorful barber poles twirl outside the façade of a barber shop near a cobblestone alley, and a flashing movie theater marquee welcomes you to the Pierce Family Theater, where patients and families can take in a film or DVD during their stay. The marquee and brick façade of the theater are among the more whimsical elements of the hospital’s interior design.

 

Just outside the theater, a faux sugar maple tree's full fall foliage towers above park benches and a fireplace in the main lobby's sunny atrium, as visitors round the bend to the Lake Michigan beach area – complete with a replica of the 74-year-old Fond du Lac lighthouse and footprints etched in the watery blue and sand-colored flooring.

 

Wisconsin Avenue is home to many "must-see places," such as:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2ND FLOOR - George Fait Family Pediatric Specialty Clinics

 

Theme: Farms

 

George Fait Family Pediatric Specialty Clinics

 

From cardiology to cancer, all outpatient appointments for more than 30 specialty pediatric clinics take place in this beautiful space on Level 2. Thirty-five exam rooms, plus teaching and education space, special procedure rooms, radiology, labs and rehabilitation space are all housed here.

 

Friends of UW Hospital and Clinics Positive Image Center

 

An especially unique hallmark of Level 2 is the Friends of University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Positive Image Center - the only one in the nation to focus solely on kids. Here, children can ease their anxiety about appearance-altering illnesses or procedures.

 

From wigs to hats to makeup application, the Friends of University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Positive Image Center supports each child in a way that responds to his or her own physical and emotional needs and desires. 

3RD FLOOR - Pediatric Surgical Department

 

Theme: Lakes

 

The Pediatric Surgical Department, on the third floor of American Family Children's Hospital, is the newest addition to the hospital. With six operating rooms, two procedures rooms and 30 pre-surgery beds, the surgical department is a state-of-the-art facility with the latest in operating room design and technology.

 

Learn more about the surgical process

 

The floor has a lakes theme, complete with "swimming" fish and turtles along the floors. Artwork from children decorate the halls and rooms, and just off the elevator is a large glass mural of lake wildlife.

 

 

 

4TH FLOOR - Pediatric Inpatient Unit and UW Medical Foundation Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

 

Theme: Prairies

 

Level 4 features inpatient care for children who are acutely ill, have just come out of surgery or who are being treated for cancer or conditions requiring the services of specialists in neuroscience, plastic surgery or ENT (ear, nose and throat).

 

Home to the state-of-the-art 16-bed Pediatric Inpatient Unit and 21-bed UW Medical Foundation Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Level 4 is designed especially for families whose children may be hospitalized for longer stays. Special amenities on Level 4 include five Ronald McDonald House Charities parent sleep rooms, two family lounges and an exercise room.

 

Pediatric Inpatient Unit

 

This unit provides specialized space for patients and families facing especially challenging illnesses, such as cancer. This floor is home to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit and a lead-lined MIBG room for advanced treatment of a rare form of pediatric cancer. Level 4 also features its own school room and playroom in an infection-controlled environment.

 

UW Medical Foundation Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

 

With a soothing look and feel, the UW Medical Foundation PICU environment enhances a child's ability to heal by providing a strong sense of calm and tranquility, while simultaneously offering the very latest technology to support the child's care needs.

5TH FLOOR - Children and Adolescent Inpatient Unit

 

Theme: Woods

 

Patient Rooms

 

Rooms with room. This is what children and families need, and this is what they will have on Level 5. As the child's room is really a "home base," it was clear that extra space was a must in the new hospital.

 

Level 5 includes 24 general care inpatient rooms that are more than double the size of those in the old hospital. Patients and families have a desk, phone, internet access, patient-controlled TV/DVD units, and other spaces and services to meet their needs. Each patient room is also equipped with a private bathroom and sleeping accommodations for a parent.

 

Hospital School and Friends of UW Hospital and Clinics Playroom

 

Of course, kids do not stop being kids just because they are in the hospital. They want to play and learn, and Level 5 is home to a playroom and a school room.

 

Staffed by three Madison Metropolitan School District teachers, the Hospital School ensures that patients keep up with their studies so they are not behind when they return to their regular school.

 

Patients also have a special place to just be kids in the Friends of University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Playroom, staffed by Child Life specialists and volunteers.