Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit opens in Kentucky

Designed by DesignGroup, the fourth floor of Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Ky., has recently opened as the Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU).

The CICU includes 17 private rooms for children recovering from heart procedures, including open heart surgery, heart transplant, and other conditions requiring intensive care. The goal of the redesign was to provide better patient- and family-centric services.

The 17 rooms are broken down into three neonatal rooms and 14 private CICU patient rooms. Additionally, a new family-dedicated gathering space serves as a focal point to provide families with opportunities for connection and respite.

Jennifer Lawrence CICU private patient room

The CICU is one aspect of the overall hospital redesign project that also includes the creation of a new 7,000 square foot conference center on the first floor. Moving the conference center from the sixth floor to the first floor created space to accommodate a 24-bed medical and surgical unit, which had been on the fourth floor. The pediatric intensive care unit, which is also being renovated, will remain on the fourth floor with the new CICU. The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has also been renovated, and opened in February 2020. The NICU renovation converted an existing ward-style unit to a 29-bed, family-centered model of care. Aligned with an addition to the north side of the facility, the NICU offers a new entry sequence that includes a greeter station, a family respite zone, family amenities, and the milk lab for the entire facility.

The entire $78.3 million project is expected to complete in 2022 and total more than 101,000 sf. DesignGroup is the planner and design architect for the project. DesignGroup is collaborating with a local firm to complete construction.

Rural hospitals present unique opportunities and challenges for healthcare facility operators. Oftentimes, the infrastructure and building systems have not been updated for years and require significant improvements in order to meet today’s modern medical demands. Additionally, as these smaller, more remote hospitals are acquired by larger regional and national healthcare systems, the first step by new ownership is often to update and rehabilitate the building. But how can this be done thoughtfully, economically, and efficiently in ways that allow the engineering and facility staff to adapt to the changes? And how can the updates accurately reflect the specific needs of rural communities and the afflictions with which these areas most commonly face?

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