BIRMINGHAM - AL -
The Joseph S. Bruno Pediatric Heart Center at Children's
of Alabama officially opened over the weekend. The first patients were
transferred to Children's new facility from UAB Hospital. Located within the recently-opened, 12-story Benjamin
Russell Hospital for Children, the Bruno Pediatric Heart Center provides
comprehensive inpatient cardiac care through a unique partnership with UAB. It
is, in essence, a heart hospital within a hospital, offering specialized pediatric
cardiovascular surgery, cardiology, interventional cardiology, cardiac
intensive care and anesthesia. Pediatric Cardiology's outpatient clinic will
remain on the ninth floor of the UAB Women and Infants Center.
The Bruno Pediatric Heart Center, which occupies the
entire fourth floor of the Russell Building, includes a 20-room cardiovascular
intensive care unit, two dedicated surgical suites, three heart and vascular
catheterization labs and four dedicated extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
(ECMO) rooms. The floor directly connects via skywalk to the UAB Women and
Infants Center to provide quick and efficient access for the physicians and
surgeons to their pediatric patients, as well as for the immediate transport of
newborns requiring specialized care for congenital heart ailments. A 16-room
cardiac care unit for telemetry-monitored patients is located on the Russell
Building's eighth floor.
The cornerstone of the Bruno Heart Center is its
innovative pediatric hybrid catheterization suite, the only one of its kind in
the state of Alabama. The hybrid cath lab is equipped with $3 million worth of
state-of-the-art technology that allows it to be immediately converted to a CV
surgical suite, eliminating the need to bring the child out of anesthesia for a
second procedure in a different room. Interactive technology provides teaching
opportunities and teleconferencing capabilities that can be accessed from down
the hallway or the other side of the world.
Prior to the move, many pediatric cardiac patients were admitted
to Children's prior to surgery and transferred to UAB for heart surgery and
post-operative care. The relocation of CV services to Children's streamlines
the pathway of care for these high-risk patients and their families. Most
importantly, it combines, under one roof, the nationally-renowned expertise of
UAB physicians and surgeons with the highly specialized care that is unique to
Children's, the state's only hospital dedicated solely to pediatric healthcare.
The single platform of care created by the physical
connection between the Bruno Pediatric Heart Center at Children's and the adult
heart surgical facilities at UAB streamlines the care provided by a
multidisciplinary team of specialists including surgeons, cardiologists,
intensivists, anesthesiologists, neonatologists and geneticists as well as
experts in pediatrics and fetal and maternal medicine. Pediatric CV surgery,
cardiology, interventional radiology and anesthesia work jointly and in concert
with the UAB Pediatric Cardiology Clinic, Regional Neonatal Intensive Care
Unit/Continuing Care Nursery, obstetrics and adult congenital heart services to
address the medical and surgical needs of heart patients as concerns arise. Through
this unique approach, patients receive a seamless continuum of care that begins
at birth and follows them throughout adulthood.
The history of UAB's congenital heart surgery program
dates back more than a half century to the early days of open heart surgery and
Dr. Champ Lyons. In 1966, Dr. John Kirklin, who performed the world's first
series of open heart operations using a heart-lung machine, came to UAB from
the Mayo Clinic and teamed with pediatric cardiology pioneer Dr. Lionel (Mac)
Bargeron to create a program to provide care for patients with congenital heart
disease. Forty years later, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. James Kirklin,
pediatric cardiologist Dr. Yung Lau, and pediatric cardiovascular intensivist
Dr. Jeffery Alten joined forces to build the multidisciplinary program that is
now based at Children's.
The Joseph S. Bruno Pediatric Heart Center was named in
memory of legendary Alabama businessman Joe Bruno who opened a downtown
Birmingham grocery store in 1932 with his $600 in life savings, and over the
next 60 years built it into a publicly-traded, multi-billion-dollar chain. He
was known for his generous philanthropy. The Joseph S. Bruno Charitable
Foundation was established after his 1996 death to continue his faithful
giving. A $3.9million gift to Children's funded the pediatric heart center.
