Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota Opens New Helipad on its Minneapolis Campus

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is opening a new helipad on its Minneapolis campus, which will give patients immediate access to specialists when they need it most.

The new helipad will significantly shorten transport time by as much as 15 minutes, by eliminating the need to move patients from the helipad on Abbott Northwestern Hospital though a tunnel to Children's, a distance of about a half a mile.

Patients transferred to Children's often need immediate critical care, and the faster a child can be placed in the care of a pediatric specialist the more likely it is that there will be a positive outcome. The new helipad gives patients faster and better access to critical pediatric-specific care including Children's trauma center, surgery center, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).  

"For patients who are transferred to Children's via helicopter, every minute counts," said David Hirschman, co-medical director of trauma at Children's. "We are always working to minimize the amount of time it takes to get a child who is facing a critical health issue into our care. The helipad is going to significantly shorten that process."

Funding for the new helipad is part of a commitment made by UnitedHealthcare to help Children's improve access to pediatric trauma care for children in our region.

About Children's

Serving as Minnesota's children's hospital since 1924, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is one of the largest pediatric health care organizations in the United States, with 340 staffed beds at its two hospitals in St. Paul and Minneapolis. An independent, not-for-profit health care system, Children's of Minnesota provides care through more than 12,000 inpatient visits and more than 200,000 emergency room and other outpatient visits every year. Children's is the only Minnesota hospital system to provide comprehensive care exclusively to children.

Children's is regularly ranked among the top pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, most recently in 2011 for its neonatal, cardiovascular, cancer and pulmonology care. Once again in 2010, Children's was recognized by the Leapfrog Group as one of the seven top hospitals in the country for quality and efficiency. In addition, the American Nurses Credentialing Center has named Children's a Magnet hospital, a designation that recognizes excellence in nursing.

SOURCE Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota