Improving the Behavioral & Mental Health Continuum of Care

Inspired by the local community’s mission to help those in need and change the trajectory of their lives towards a positive and hopeful future, the new Behavioral Health & Wellness Center at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha is a place that serves as the medium to achieve positive change by design.

The building is welcoming and comfortable to pediatric patients of all ages and their families with a strong connection to daylight and nature throughout. A new, state-of-the-art center of excellence for pediatric behavioral health care, the new care environment provides a seamless continuum of care for children, teens and families.

Through close collaboration with Kiewit, the Mental Health Innovation Foundation, CBRE and Children's Hospital & Medical Center, the design team gathered and synthesized information to create an operationally efficient and economically viable solution for MHIF and Children’s Hospital that enhances the experience, treatment and safety of its patients.

The new facility includes numerous programs to support children and youth in the community:

• General pediatric outpatient clinic
• Behavioral health outpatient clinic
• Partial hospitalization program
• Assessment center
• 16-bed adolescent inpatient unit
• Eight-bed child unit with an eight-bed flex unit
• Six-bed special care unit with 10 beds shelled for future use

The unit design emphasizes positive patient experiences, staff efficiency and safety. Prioritized planning strategies included maximizing staff lines of sight while preserving the need for patient privacy and dignity, preventing patient crowding to reduce incidents of aggression, and efficient back-of-house access to support spaces on the units. Staff well-being is reinforced with multiple respite rooms, mother's rooms and meditation space.