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Georgia Gov. Zell Miller (left) and Medical College of Georgia President Francis Tedesco applaud Friday as the dedication plaque is unveiled for the new Children's Medical Center. Mr. Miller said the facility should affect the quality of life of citizens throughout the state. Johnathan Ernst/Staff

College hospital unveiled

Web posted May 2, 1998

 WRDW News-12 coverage of the dedicaton, RealVideo File

By Tom Corwin
Staff Writer

Oddly enough, Arti Danes is looking forward to getting her allergy shots.

Standing in the vast, airy lobby of the newly dedicated Medical College of Georgia Children's Medical Center, surrounded by flashing images of trees and the burbling sound of a nearby pool, Arti, 11, was glad to see designers had followed her suggestions.

``I can't wait to come here,'' she said breathlessly.

After more than a decade of planning, lobbying, meeting and construction, Georgia Gov. Zell Miller formally dedicated the new $53 million children's hospital on Friday.

``When you do something that affects the well-being of our children and our families all across the state, it strengthens the quality of life all across the state,'' Mr. Miller said.

And much of the innovation and improvements came from the mouths of patients like Arti and her sister, Joyti, 14, both asthmatics, who served on the Children's Advisory Council.

At the opening of the new MCG Children's Medical Center, former MCG patient Jennifer Irons (right) and her mother Dee Irons (next to her) tour one of the patient rooms on the 5th floor. The room was presented by pediatric surgery nurse Pamela Carter (left). It features over 300 square feet of space, a large bathroom, cabinet space for the kids, and a trundle bed that pulls out to allow the parents to stay in the room with their child. Johnathan Ernst/Staff

The kids asked for cheery colors. Every room and waiting area is splashed with bright blues, reds and greens. They asked for a pool and got a fountain in the lobby that will connect outside with an interactive fountain, which will send up jets of water when a button in the ground is stomped.

They got a separate room for the teen-age patients and video games and other things to do while they're there.

The suggestions fit right into the hospital's theme of combining nature and technology to create a soothing environment, said Kimberly Stanley, one of the architects who have already won an award for the building's design.

``Nature is the healer, and technology is the helper,'' said Patricia Sodomka, executive director of MCG Hospital and Clinics.

That theme is evident in the banks of television that form the video aquarium in the lobby, displaying row upon row of trees or underwater sea fans waving slowly in the current.

``We're using the technology to bring in elements of nature,'' said J. Honora S. Foah of Visioneering International, which designed the video aquarium and video totem poles.

Folks wait in line outside the stylish, new MCG Children's Medical Center to tour the $53 million hospital. Johnathan Ernst/Staff

``It's a bit of an escape, too, for the kids,'' said D. Robert Foah of Visioneering International.

Paul LeDuc, 14, another member of the child advisory group, summed it up more simply.

``When you're happy, you heal much faster,'' he said.

It is a concept that began with Augusta's first children's hospital, Wilhenford Hospital for Children, which closed in 1941 and sat just a short distance away from today's children's hospital.

The cornerstone from the Wilhenford hospital will sit in the lobby of the new children's hospital. The two also are linked by their mission and how they were designed, said Lois Ellison, associate vice president for planning and a member of the team that has worked on the new hospital since 1983. She thought back to what the founders of Welhenford said at their dedication on March 4, 1910.

``What they called it is a `motherlike' environment,'' she said. ``But it's the same thing we're talking about now.''