Griffins’ gift will enhance emergency care in new hospital

Thanks to Kenneth and Anne Griffin's generous gift, the sickest and most seriously injured children will receive state-of-the-art emergency care when Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago opens in 2012.

Susan and Sean Bracken were enjoying a quiet evening after tucking their children, Grace and Sean Jr., into bed, when suddenly they heard a moan from the kids’ bedroom. Seconds later they found Grace unresponsive, lying in a twisted position, and knew they needed to call for help. Their 8-year-old daughter had suffered a stroke in her brain — a life-threatening condition that required immediate care.

Within minutes, a Chicago Fire Department ambulance was rushing Grace to Children’s Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Department, where a team of doctors and nurses was waiting for them. When the ambulance arrived, they sprang into action. “I watched more than a dozen people working on my daughter at the same time,“ says Susan. “It was like something you’d see on a TV show.”

Grace is one of the 65,000 children seen each year in the hospital’s Emergency Department, which is sometimes referred to as its “front door,“ because half of all admitted children receive their initial care there. With a staff that includes over 25 physicians and nearly 80 nurses, the hospital is a recognized national leader in pediatric emergency medicine, and has the only training program for the subspecialty in Illinois. It’s also the only pediatric emergency department in the Chicago area with highly trained pediatric specialists available 24 hours a day.

Thanks to a $16 million gift from The Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation, sick and injured children will benefit from the most advanced care and facilities available in The Kenneth and Anne Griffin Emergency Care Center when Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago opens in 2012.

“A state-of-the-art emergency care center can be the difference between life and death for critically ill children,” says Anne Dias Griffin, who co-heads The Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation with her husband, Kenneth Griffin, and is on the board of directors of both Children’s Memorial and Children’s Memorial Foundation. ”This center will be vital for protecting the health and well-being of the children in our community and we are excited to be part of this important initiative.“

”Although we have always endeavored to provide state-of-the art care, our new emergency care center at Lurie Children’s will enable us to take our emergency medicine program to the next level,“ says Steven Krug, MD, head of the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s Memorial. ”The new facility offers us a tremendous opportunity for continued growth in all areas of our mission, including patient care, educating tomorrow’s pediatric and emergency care physicians and nurses, and our commitments to research and child advocacy.“

The Kenneth and Anne Griffin Emergency Care Center will encompass almost an entire floor in the 23-story Lurie Children’s. The demand for emergency care at Children’s Memorial has steadily risen over the years, and the Emergency Department at the new hospital will provide a substantial increase in emergency care capacity, accommodating an estimated 75,000 children in its first year of operation. The center will more than double the current number of examination rooms and major trauma/resuscitation beds. It will expand the triage area to allow for expanded capacity in the rapid assessment of arriving patients, minimizing waiting times. The new facility will include the latest technology, including dedicated diagnostic radiology suites and a CT scanner.

”The new facility and its patient and examination rooms will be more comfortable for patients and their families and allow us to be more supportive of their needs,“ says Dr. Krug. ”Children rarely come to the Emergency Department by themselves; they’re accompanied by parents and family members, and these enhancements will help us in our commitment to providing family-centered care.“

Grace was fortunate. Although a neurosurgery team stood by to remove the aneurysm that had burst in her brain, a neurointerventional radiologist was able to stop the bleeding using a minimally invasive procedure. She spent two and a half weeks recovering at Children’s Memorial, followed by intensive physical therapy to regain the movement she had lost on the left side of her body. “After something like this happens, you have a special appreciation for all the things the staff at the hospital do every day and how quickly they do it -- especially the paramedics and the Emergency Department nurses and doctors,“ says Susan. ”Timeliness is so crucial in these life or death situations, and bringing Grace to Children’s Memorial that night saved her life.“

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