Growing because future grown-ups are depending on it
For more than 113 years, Seattle Children’s has committed to providing hope, care and cures for children throughout our region. Seattle Children’s serves the largest area of any pediatric hospital in the country — from Utqiagvik, Alaska to Bozeman, Montana — and is dedicated to helping every child live the healthiest and most fulfilling life possible. Growth at Seattle Children’s will offer greater access to care and more hope for every child who needs us now and for generations to come.
Read on to learn how we will serve our region’s future grown-ups who need mental and behavioral health care, more equitable access to care, acute and specialty care, or a life-saving surgery.
Growing to Transform Mental and Behavioral Health Care
- Seattle Children’s is making a long-term commitment to mental and behavioral health care as a critical part of child health.
- The number of children treated in the Emergency Department each week who have a psychiatric emergency has increased thirty percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one to two children are admitted each night for suicidal ideation.
- Bringing together the expert teams from Seattle Children’s Autism Center and Outpatient Behavioral Health Program into one facility at Seattle Children’s Magnuson is a step toward our commitment to changing the way we treat mental health —shifting the paradigm for a generation of children.
- The newly renovated building, specially designed for youth with autism or behavioral health needs, opened on December, 12 2022.
Growing to Provide Equitable Access to Care
- The Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic (OBCC) opened in 1970 to provide compassionate, high-quality health care with dignity to children in Seattle’s Central District.
- Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic is an enduring community partner with a dedication to promoting quality pediatric care, family advocacy, health collaboration, mentoring and education in a culturally relevant context.
- Seattle Children’s is opening a second location, called OBCC Othello, in 2022. This new facility, strategically located near the Othello light rail station and New Holly community, is designed to meet the health and wellness needs of the growing pediatric community in South Seattle and south King County.
- OBCC Othello will be part of a unique urban community concept called Othello Square, a 3.2-acre site that brings together all the pieces of health and community including a charter elementary school, an early development center, affordable retail and commercial spaces, community meeting spaces and mixed-income housing.
Growing to Improve Care for Children With the Most Complex Conditions
- As the only nationally ranked freestanding pediatric hospital in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle Children’s is often the top choice for the region’s sickest children.
- For children who are told they are “out of options,” Seattle Children’s provides world-class care and fights relentlessly to provide healthier, more fulfilling lives to every child.
- Forest B, at the hospital campus, will be the new home for Seattle Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, additional operating rooms and laboratory space.
- Forest B will provide greater collaboration between research and clinical care and bring the latest innovations in acute care to the bedside. The building will open in phases during 2022.
- The Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic opened in its new location in October 2022. Families will continue to receive state-of-the-art care from the same care team.
Growing to Offer More Life-Saving Surgeries
- Seattle Children’s is a destination center for world-class surgical care.
- Families travel to Seattle Children’s for surgery from the largest geographic region of any pediatric hospital in the nation.
- For the past several years, operating rooms at Seattle Children’s Bellevue Surgery Center and the Laurelhurst campus have been near maximum capacity, which has increased wait times for families to schedule surgeries and receive care for their child.
- To offer more life-saving surgeries in order to meet the needs of children today and for generations to come, Seattle Children’s is planning an expansion of our facilities to increase surgical and procedural capacity.
Growing to Increase Capacity to Serve Even More Children
- Increasingly successful treatments and innovative research provided at Seattle Children’s has led to longer lives and longer hospital stays.
- A rise in chronic conditions among children and closures of inpatient units at smaller community hospitals has increased the demand for extended pediatric hospital stays.
- Seattle Children’s was founded on the principle that no child should be turned away, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
- Future expansion on the hospital campus will add much-needed inpatient bed capacity to improve access to care and reach more children who rely on Seattle Children’s world-class care.
For more information about how our growth will meet the needs of future grown-ups:
- Seattle Children's Magnuson
- OBCC Othello
- Forest B
- Generation Reach, Seattle Children’s commitment to mental health care
- Seattle Children's Strategic Plan
- Seattle Children’s Major Institution Master Plan
- Construction Blog, weekly updates on activities at the hospital campus
For questions or construction issues, call the Good Neighbor Line at 206-987-8000 or email us.