Young hematology and oncology patients are now being treated in the new Tomorrow Fund Clinic at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, which was recently relocated to the first floor of the hospital, near the main entrance, in a larger, brighter space with a bigger playroom.
The clinic, which used to be in the lower level of the hospital, will serve as the site for the newly named Edwin N. Forman Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Outpatient Program, which serves patients with cancer and hematologic diseases including hemostatic disorders, sickle cell disease, hemoglobin-opathies, anemia, and platelet and white cell disorders.
The new, 4,700-square-foot space has seven private exam rooms, a more centralized nurses’ station and four infusion rooms that can be closed off with sliding doors for privacy, or opened up for socialization between patients who are receiving treatment.
A positive pressure room has been added for patients who are severely immunocompromised or have recently had a bone marrow transplant, and a new negative pressure room protects the other children from a patient with a potentially communicable disease.
“The new space is incredibly better planned and safer,” said Dr. Cindy Schwartz, director of the clinic. “We are able to have nurses observe patients getting infusions, chemotherapy and transfusions all at the same time from the centralized nurses’ station. The clinic’s modern design also allows staff to expedite treatment for patients. As they enter the clinic, patients will be able to check in, have their vitals checked and then have their blood drawn immediately.”
The clinic serves about 30 to 40 child and adolescent patients per day. Treatments and services provided include cancer diagnosis, treatment, management of side effects (pain, infection, nausea, low blood counts), long-term survivor care, the evaluation and treatment of blood disorders, transfusion therapy and infusion therapies for children with a variety of chronic disorders.
The new clinic’s entrance is next to the “zoo” in the hospital lobby, above the pediatric emergency department. The former atrium space offers large windows and glass walls that provide a warm, sunlit environment. The art design complements the aquatic theme of Hasbro Children’s Hospital, with a focus on beaches, water and sea life. The clay artwork tiles made by Rhode Island children that were inlaid when the hospital was built 15 years ago have been preserved and are part of the wall decor.
Hasbro Children’s Hospital is the pediatric division of Rhode Island Hospital, a member of the Lifespan health system, and the pediatric teaching and research hospital of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. For more information, go to www.hasbrochildrenshospital.org.
