How Small Details for Small Patients Leave Big Impressions

Yesterday I had the opportunity to tour the Arkansas Children’s NW, a very special new hospital in NW Arkansas. I knew it’d be cool, I had heard it had lots of cool innovations and thoughtful features. I WAY underestimated how amazing it is. 

If you stand anywhere in this hospital and turn around 360 degrees you will be able to see no fewer than half a dozen incredible touches. From the slight geometric and origami nature of the floor numbers and hidden and not-so-hidden representatives of the animal kingdom; to the visual cue of a curve - if you see one, you’re at or near (just follow it) a nurse’s station; to the fact that the trash cans in the room can be emptied from outside the room through a special hatch to not disturb the families inside; to the fact that the gift shop has a kid-sized, separate door; to the incredible choice to build this so that every elevator exit, family waiting room, and those kids undergoing heavy medicine treatments can look out the window and see the local Minor League Baseball stadium (and they do a, “wave” of blinking lights to the patients every game and the patients blink lights back at them); to the spots on the floor - some of which come alive with the pressure of a foot or wheelchair unexpectedly; to the fact that the chapel and meditation area contains a special carve-out that is safe and comfortable and confining almost like a womb for kids; to the labyrinth garden you can walk - or stare at from floors above... there is so much more, these are just a few. Some pictures are below but they don’t do it justice.

The sheer thoughtfulness of this institution is stunning and is a real embodiment of Arkansas Children’s perspective and it’s future. Truly, a humbling facility, and given how many facilities I’ve been in over the years for work (uh, and not work), it’s generally hard to surprise me.

-Dean