Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Stamford Hospital is an independent, nonprofit community hospital in Stamford Connecticut. It has undertaken the development of a Child and Adolescent Crisis Program, the first phase of which is the capital construction of a pediatric “Blue Zone” in the hospital’s emergency department (ED) which the proposed HRSA grant would fund. Specifically, the grant would fund the construction that would involve expanding the current ED Blue Zone behavioral health unit to include a new, pediatric-dedicated unit that is warmly designed with a family recreation space that is developmentally appropriate for pediatric patients and their families who are seeking behavioral health treatment. For context, the pediatric Blue Zone construction is one stage of Stamford Hospital’s Child and Adolescent Crisis Program. This new Stamford Health program aims to increase access to pediatric behavioral health care both in the ED at Stamford Hospital’s main hospital campus, and to provide short-term, outpatient follow-up at a proposed ambulatory pediatric psychiatry crisis clinic, which will be a future project not associated with this HRSA funding application. Consistent with the construction category in the enacted federal legislation, Stamford Hospital will make structural changes in its ED to provide a pediatric-friendly six-bed, ligature free unit with a family friendly recreation room for pediatric psychiatric patients in the ED to have a safe, therapeutic space while they wait for a bed in a pediatric psychiatric unit, or, as they are de-escalated and can safely be discharged back to the community. This new Blue Zone unit would take the place of Stamford Hospital’s existing, four bed Blue Zone which is used for psychiatric patients who are waiting for admission to a psychiatric bed. The current Blue Zone is a very sterile unit and not pediatric friendly. By constructing a new Blue Zone to physically expand, redesign, and reprogram the existing four bed treatment area to become a dedicated pediatric psychiatry evaluation and treatment program site that is pediatric-friendly, Stamford Hospital will further address the critical need for improved mental health services for children and youth in the community, enhancing the effectiveness and outcomes of behavioral health interventions provided by Stamford Hospital. These improvements to the existing facility will require reconfiguration and renovation of the interior arrangements of the existing ED facility and will utilize existing shell space. Once the renovation, construction, outfitting, furnishings, and all regulatory inspections are complete, the newly designed pediatric behavioral health unit will be used immediately. Each of Stamford Hospital’s Community Health Needs Assessments have identified behavioral health as a top unmet health need in the community. This project helps the hospital address that need.
