VCU Medical Center Pediatric Intensive Care Unit celebrates 25th anniversary

By Michael Ford
University News Services

WHAT:            The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is celebrating 25 years of service to the most critically ill children in the Greater Richmond area. Marking this important anniversary, former patients and their families will join PICU staff for a multi-faceted event that is part reunion, and part tribute to the men and women who devote their time and skills to the care of critically ill children. 

WHEN:          5-9 p.m., Aug. 16, 2003

WHERE:         Children’s Museum of Richmond, 2626 W. Broad St., Richmond 

WHO:             ·         Sheldon M. Retchin, M.D., vice president, health sciences and CEO, VCU Health System
·         Carol M. Crosby, vice president, patient care services & chief nursing officer
·         John J. Mickell, M.D., professor and chairman, Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
·         Lauren Goodloe, Ph.D., R.N., director, medical & pediatric nursing
·         Mary F. Walker, R.N., nurse manager, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
·         Dwayne Gilley, vice president, Northern Division of Food Lion
·         John & Tricia Tiller, parents of a young boy who was treated at the PICU after falling from           a second story window.

BACKGROUND:
Fully equipped with the latest instrumentation and life support techniques, the VCU Medical Center’s PICU is a Level-1, 12-bed critical care area, staffed for the care of critically ill children, including heart surgery patients, liver transplant patients and head injury patients. In addition to admissions from the emergency room, pediatric floors, and operating rooms, the PICU is a referral site for hospitals in the Richmond area and regional hospitals, from Fredericksburg to the north, to Virginia’s southern border; extending as far east as Williamsburg and west to Farmville.                     

                    First established as a seven-bed unit in 1978, the PICU has grown into a 12-bed unit that averages 950 admissions a year.   A $2.5 million renovation project is underway at the PICU.  When it is finished in the fall of 2003, the new unit will provide larger and more private patient spaces to accommodate family visitation 24 hours a day.