Christa Mitchell won’t forget the special care her daughter Irisreceived at King’s Daughters Medical Center several years ago.

Iris, who was born with heart problems, has had four surgeriesfor cardiac disorders since her birth five years ago. Though hermajor procedures were done at University Medical Center in Jackson,Iris’ initial treatment at King’s Daughters made all thedifference, said Mitchell.

“All the people there know me from being in and out of therewith Iris,” she said. “They treated us real good there.”

King’s Daughters officials are hoping the upcoming renovation oftwo regular rooms and the remodeling of a storage area into aplayroom will make children who come to the facility in the futurefeel more at home and parents less stressful about their child’scondition.

NEED FOR ROOMS

Dr. David Braden, a pediatric cardiologist who moved toBrookhaven four months ago, says there is definitely a need forpediatric facilities at the hospital. Since he’s been here, he’sseen an average of two to six children’s cases at the hospital atone time. Illnesses range anywhere from asthma to pneumonia todehydration, he said.

“We’ll have some bizarre stuff in here every once in a while,”he said, “but mostly it’s babies with pneumonia, fever ordehydration.”

Braden has worked in a facility where pediatric rooms wereavailable to patients and knows first-hand of their benefits. Thewhole idea, he said, is to make a child’s stay more relaxing.

“Being in the hospital is a traumatic experience. Two newpediatric rooms and a playroom will make the kids less frightenedto be in the hospital,” he said. “We want to make them feel morelike they’re at home.”

Colorful, lively rooms with numerous games are typical pediatricrooms, he said.

“Some of these rooms have more games than the kids have athome,” he said.

The playrooms, Braden continued, serve as a safe haven for thechildren.

“A child will almost never be examined there,” he added.

He believes the new rooms will be a welcome asset to King’sDaughters for patients and their parents.

“Parents will be at ease knowing their children arecomfortable,” he said. “If the child is happier, the parent will behappier.”

There will still be cases where the child will need to go toanother health care facility to get specialized care, but at leastparents will consider home first and their visit here will be apleasing one, Braden said.

He added, “The theory is to make it nicer to put kids in, andthe parents would be more willing to stay and get their care here.It allows us to keep more patients here.”

HOW PATIENTS, PARENTS BENEFIT

Christa Mitchell believes having pediatric rooms when Iris washospitalized would have been a lot more convenient for her and herfamily.

“It would have been a lot better if she was closer to home. Shewould’ve gotten to see more of her family besides me.”

At three months old, Iris had surgery after the fluid around herheart made her go into cardiac arrest. Her first hospital staylasted two months, with her mother spending days by her bedside inJackson. Iris stayed out of the hospital two days before beingreadmitted due to more problems. That time, she stayed hospitalizedfor four months. She has returned periodically followingcomplications over the years.

As she grew older, Iris did get to enjoy the child-friendlyrooms there. Their facilities are loaded with things to make achild’s stay more playful, Mitchell said.

“When she got to walking, I couldn’t keep her out of theplayroom. Somebody would be watching the kids while the parentstook a break to get something to eat,” she said.

Iris’ last complication was about two years ago, and today sheis healthy and carefree, living a normal toddler life.

“She acts like she’s never been sick before in her life,” saidChrista.

She believes renovating the rooms and adding a playroom atKing’s Daughters would be more convenient for the patients,particularly those living right here in this area.

“It would be a lot better on the patient and their family. Itgets their (patients’) minds off their condition and releases theparents from all the stress,” she said.

Other parents, like James and Alma Laird, know the advantagesrenovating the rooms would create.

“I think it would be nice. It would make their stay a whole lotpleasant,” said Alma Laird, whose son Johnathan has beenhospitalized at the facility in the past.

HOW HOSPITAL BENEFITS

Kathy Behan, a member of the hospital’s 13-member FoundationDevelopment Council, believes the work is just the first steptowards getting the hospital headed in the right direction for thefuture. The Foundation Development Council formed the idea for thepediatric rooms.

“We want to accentuate the growth in our pediatrics. We’ve donea lot of capital improvements over the last 10 years, but the nextpiece of the puzzle is to get the community support,” Behansaid.

Pediatric care is only one of the many areas that the public cansupport at the facility, she added.

“This is exciting. We’ve got some good stuff going on at thehospital,” Behan said. “We want to make as much impact as we can toprovide the services the public needs.”

The pediatric rooms and future renovations can get KDMCoperating at its full capabilities, she explained.

“We feel we can compete with any hospital around, but if thepeople won’t use us, we can’t grow,” Behan said. “The hospital is areally important piece of what makes Brookhaven special.”

PREPARING FOR THE ROOMS

The hospital’s main objective now is to find those target areaswhere it can add equipment and other things to make the patients’stay more comfortable, said CEO Phillip Grady.

“As parents know, children are very active and laying in a bedcan make the situation worse for the child and parent,” saidGrady.

Providing appropriate rooms and a playroom makes a child’s stayless threatening, said Jennifer Jackson, KDMC Director ofMarketing.

Plans include bright colors, games, pediatric beds, murals onthe lower half of the walls and converting a storage area into aplayroom. Brookhaven High School art students are responsible fordesigning the murals.

“We’d like to have two murals — one for the younger kids andanother for the older. We thought it would be interesting if we letthe art students do this. We’re anxious to see what they come upwith,” Jackson said.

Grady is unsure of when renovations will begin. Typically, thehospital is busy around this time of year with an influx ofpatients from flu season. He is hopeful, however, that renovationcan begin in the very near future.

“Hopefully, we’ll get started very soon,” Jackson added.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Renovating the rooms is expected to cost around $50,000,according to Suzanne Britt, co-chair of the Medical SpousesOrganization. The Medical Spouses Organization, made up of areaphysicians’ wives, is responsible for special fund raising projectsfor the hospital, said Jackson.

The first fund-raising effort toward funding the rooms is aFoundation Membership Drive, which kicks off next week. The spousesorganization will be meeting Tuesday, Nov. 14, to get all theactive medical staff’s wives on board.

One part of the project is informing families that memorials canbe requested to the foundation when a loved one passes away.

“They can do something to honor the nurses and physicians whocared for them,” Britt said.

A mail membership campaign to let people know they can becomemembers or benefactors of the foundation is also another project inthe works, said Britt.

“A direct mail membership campaign will target the first wave ofpeople in the community and will be followed up by a second wave ofdirect mail pieces, probably after the first of the year,” shesaid. “That will hopefully hit those people who were missed on thefirst round. This is a community project, and we hope to get theentire community on board for this effort.”