PICU Parent Lounge Renovation

Sparrow’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) provides major medical, surgical and trauma care for children up to the age of 18 throughout the mid-Michigan region. Sparrow’s multidisciplinary intensive care team includes the regions’ only pediatric intensivists. Pediatric residents provide 24-hour staffing, supported by physician sub-specialists, highly trained nurses certified in pediatric advanced life support, and other specially trained PICU team members.

The state-of-the art PICU provides this multidisciplinary team with specialized equipment designed to detect subtle changes in a child’s condition and instantly alert the staff to these changes. Custom-made cribs designed by the PICU team for our infants allow maximum patient comfort and maximum flexibility for the medical care team.

An admission to PICU can be frightening and stressful for the patient and his or her family. At Sparrow, we do everything possible to alleviate fears throughout a child’s hospitalization. Within the PICU, Sparrow has a Parent Lounge where parents can shower, make a call to loved ones, and, in general, take care of their own personal needs. Whatever the length of stay, it’s important for the child’s wellbeing that parents take good care of themselves. This lounge is close to all the PICU rooms, so families are not far from their children.

The renovation will provide a clean, comfortable, and updated atmosphere for parents to offer comfort and support to their child in ways nobody else can on the care team. Parents typically stay at the hospital with their children in PICU 24/7. Over the years, the lounge has deteriorated. It does not provide the environment we know parents deserve as their critically ill children are cared for in PICU.