New children's hospital specializes in rehab care NEW BRUNSWICK - Children's Specialized Hospital has expanded to include a 60-bed pediatric rehabilitation center on Somerset Street. The new PSE&G Children's Specialized Hospital, which opened earlier this month, is located on the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital campus. It is adjacent to the Child Health Institute of New Jersey and is connected to the Bristol-Myers Children's Hospital of New Jersey. The facility provides inpatient rehabilitation care for infants through 21 years of age affected by traumatic brain injury, spinal cord dysfunction, and premature birth. The facility is the 11th site for Children's Specialized Hospital, New Jersey's largest comprehensive rehabilitation hospital dedicated exclusively to children. "This new infrastructure of combining acute, rehabilitation and research is critical to providing the best care for our patients," said Amy B. Mansue, president and chief executive officer for Children's Specialized Hospital. "We interviewed 1,000 people - nurses, physicians, patients' families, and incorporated all of their best ideas into this new hospital. It's all about the kids for us, and creating this new health-care campus changes the way we provide care to our patients forever." Construction of the new hospital was funded in part by Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation's capital campaign, the Building Begins with Children, which raised $33 million toward the project. Some 46 patients from Children's Specialized Hospital in Mountainside and Toms River were moved in two shifts, with the adolescents moving in on Dec. 4 and the infants and toddlers on Dec. 5. Children's Specialized Hospital will continue to provide long-term care services and outpatient services from the Mountainside site. The new 125,000-square-foot consists of four floors above grade and one below. The ground-floor level contains a state-of-the-art therapy pool, auditorium and café. The main floor contains a large entrance lobby with monumental stair to the café below, meditation chapel, interactive gallery, education resources library, therapy areas for patients including a large gym, and staff offices. A large outdoor therapy garden is connected to this level and there is also an at-grade public connection to the Bristol- Myers Children's Hospital on this floor. The second and third floors contain 30 beds each, primarily located in semiprivate rooms. Each patient bed area has a flat panel television, game system, and family sleep accommodations. The second floor has a special kitchen designated to prepare kosher meals. One floor is designated for the infant and toddler population, and one is designated for the adolescent teenage group. Each patient floor contains support spaces appropriate for the age, game rooms, playroom, dining spaces, teen lounge and classrooms, in addition to therapy areas and offices. In addition, each floor has a family lounge and pantry area. The fourth floor is dedicated to the executive administrative offices and mechanical equipment.