KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is a space no family wants to find themselves needing, but Dolly Patron Children’s Hospital is hoping a newly-redesigned space could make that period of uncertainty a little easier for the families of children in their PICU.
Six days: That’s how long the average patient stays at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital. Six days of uncertainty as families wait to see whether their child will be okay.
“It’s about 9,000 minutes where families are out of control,” said Matthew Schaefer, president and CEO of the hospital. “Where they don’t know what’s up and down, trying to recognize night and day, trying to have something that is close to normal in an otherwise abnormal event in their life, in their child’s life. Moments filled with anxiety and questions.”
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The hospital can’t take away the anxiety of waiting, but they are hoping the new Dollywood Family Lounge can at least ease it, giving families space to breath, to rest, to pray. The hospital held the ribbon cutting Tuesday morning. The lounge has a kitchenette, showers, sleep pods, workspaces and washer and drier facilities…