‘It’s life-changing.’ What a South Florida children’s hospital has added in expansion

Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital has completed a $166 million expansion to meet the increasing pediatric needs of South Florida. And the completion may be just in time for one family waiting on a heart transplant.

“He’s been doing pretty good, handling it well and he’s excited,” said Brittni Scherrer of her son Gabe. She told CBS Miami that he could be one of the first to have surgery in the new section of the hospital.

“This is a new hybrid room that allows for the first time ever to perform both surgical catheterization procedures without having to move them,” said Dr. Thomas Forbes, chief of cardiology.

Without this kind of machinery and technology, heart patients would have to wait a day to do both procedures, requiring more trips to different parts of the hospital or buildings.

“It allows us three-dimensional evaluations of the structures that we’re interested in to give us the best opportunity to get the repair we want,’ he said.

The Hollywood hospital, across the street from the main campus of Memorial Regional Hospital, added four new floors and has an intra-operative magnetic resonance imaging machine, which helps give neurosurgeons a better look at the brain during surgery.

“It’s life-changing in terms of quality of care and patient outcomes,” Dr. Daxa Patel said.

There will also be 26 new pediatric ICU rooms, as well as 20 intermediate care beds, and new areas for rehab and play. The expanded hospital will grow from 180,000 to 400,000 square feet.

“There’s an obvious need,” Kevin Janser, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundation President said. That’s why he committed to raising $56 million. A third of the nearly $170 million price tag is coming from community donors.

Janser believes donors want to help children; children like Gabe who’s hopefully going to get a new heart soon.

“He’s excited to be a normal kid, he’s ready for it,” Gabe’s mom said.

The new section of the hospital is expected to be up and running Nov. 8.

This report is from Miami Herald news partner CBS Miami.