Riverton Hospital’s New Children’s Unit Is Ready to Launch

Dedication ceremony of Primary Children’s new Children’s Unit at Riverton Hospital highlights a unique partnership that will deliver convenient, high-quality inpatient care to the southwest valley’s youngest patients

RIVERTON, UT (9/29/2010) – Riverton Hospital and Primary Children’s Medical Center celebrated a unique milestone at a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 22 to commemorate the completion of the hospital’s new, unique Children’s Unit.

The unit is a first-its-kind service, operated by Primary Children’s Medical Center, that will allow ill children from Southwest Salt Lake County to be treated close to home. The new unit opens on October 11.

The ceremony was attended by over 100 Intermountain Healthcare leaders, Riverton Hospital and Primary Children’s employees, and community members and celebrated the unique partnership between the two Intermountain Healthcare facilities, which will bring the best possible inpatient care to the children of the southwest end of the Salt Lake Valley.

“This is a monumental day for us,” Blair Kent, Riverton Hospital’s administrator, said at the ceremony. “We’re standing at the threshold of what will be a generational mark. We’re now able to take care of everybody — from the oldest person to the newest baby.”

The new Children’s Unit is a part of and will be supported by Riverton Hospital — but Primary Children's will manage direct patient care, provided by hospitalists (doctors specializing in hospital care), nurses, techs, child life staff, and social workers. Community physicians will also be able to care for their own patients on the unit.

“When you think about the growing number of children in this community, it’s a natural fit for this inpatient unit to be here,” said Joe Mott, Primary Children’s CEO. “Many children in the area will benefit from these services. This is the right place and the right time to open this unit, and we’re very excited to reach this milestone.”

“Riverton’s new Children’s Unit will focus on continuing the extraordinary reputation of Primary Children’s Medical Center,” says Kent. “It starts and ends with the kids. ‘The child first and always’ — that’s something you can count on here.”

An overview of the Children’s Unit. The new 30-bed unit features a kid-friendly space theme with fun artwork and a children’s playroom with games, toys, and activities. Initially, the Children’s Unit will admit short-term patients who don’t require complex care, but eventually it will expand to admit patients with more complicated medical and surgical needs. Patients will be referred to the Children’s Unit through the Riverton Hospital Emergency Department and community pediatricians.

The unit’s ribbon-cutting involved a week-long celebration that included open houses for physicians and former patients of Riverton Hospital, and concluded with a community open house that featured children’s health screenings, tours of the unit, and interactive games with Primary Children’s Child Life Services.