In one day, an entire hospital moves

ST. PETERSBURG - All Children's Hospital's new $400 facility opens December 12 with an unprecedented parade of gurneys, wheelchairs and wagons.

"We must move all of the patients in less than 24 hours," explains Vice President of Operations Jean Francis. "We can only have one license, one hospital operating under that license."

Francis has spent the past two years on the tactical planning, and thinks the move can be finished in less than 10 hours.

Patients are the first priority, and most of those at All Children's are very ill.

"We'll probably move 60 to 70 neo-natal ICU (intensive care unit) patients, and another 40 cardiac or pediatric ICU patients," Francis says. All of them will be carried through underground tunnels connecting the old All Children's to the new via Bayfront Medical Center.

About 60 percent of the existing hospital's equipment will also be moved, along with about 1,600 employees.

"They're still scared. I think that's true of any new anything," says Sandy Czerwinski, who has overseen training since the first of the year. "People are afraid of what they don't know so we're trying very hard to try to help them get there."

In recent weeks, that has involved tours of the new workspaces and creation of what Czerwinski calls an "everything book."

"Where are things located, how would I admit a patient here, how would I handle an emergency, where are the phones, where are all of the important equipment," Czerwinski said.

She estimates it will take several months for caregivers to feel entirely at home in their new environment. But it will be state-of-the-art and more than twice as spacious as the existing All Childrens Hospital. The old facility will close at the end of moving day.