When Arkansas Children’ s Northwest opens in January 2018, the new hospital will create hundreds of career opportunities in health care opportunities focused on the unique needs of kids.
With the opening of Arkansas Children’ s Northwest, the Arkansas Children’ s Lowell Clinic will soon jump from an employee base of 50, plus physicians, to about 300.
The 233,613 square-foot building, rising on 37 acres of land, donated by David and Cathy( George) Evans, Gary and Robin George and their families, is located in Springdale near Arvest Ballpark.
The new campus will include 24 inpatient beds, 30 clinical exam rooms, 30 emergency department rooms, and five operating rooms. Also, it will offer the only pediatric emergency department in Northwest Arkansas and immediate access to Arkansas Children’ s mobile ICU, Angel One.
The new hospital will be part of Arkansas Children’ s, Inc., the only hospital system in the state dedicated to caring for children.
“ Our operations will grow from a bustling clinic to a full-scale hospital, complete with subspecialty services that are necessary for caring for kids,” said Laura Spies, Human Resources Business Partner.
“ Children aren’ t little adults,” Spies said.“ They need the care close to home that we’ ll exclusively be able to offer right here in Northwest Arkansas.”
Parents have to pull children out of school for a whole day to travel to the Little Rock campus.
“ All this travel disrupts lives,” she said.“ This is just one of the reasons it’ s important to offer care close to home for the 200,000 children who live in this area.”
The new hospital will need nurses, technicians and support workers in many more roles.
Some of the new jobs will include radiology, cardiology, pulmonary, lab, surgery, pharmacy and patient care technicians. Each of those jobs has specific certification and training requirements.
Patient care technicians will be needed to support nurses and help patients. Those technicians must have completed one semester of health care curriculum, or worked for one year as a certified nursing assistant, or CNA, which involves taking a course and passing a test.
Also needed will be registered dietitians, speech pathologists, audiologists, social workers, physical therapists, child life specialists, interpreters, information technology professionals, human resources professionals, and clerical support people who provide admissions, billing, and scheduling support.
The hospital’ s nursing staff will include licensed practical nurses and registered nurses from level I through IV, Spies said. The higher the level, the more education, experience and professional competencies a nurse has.
“ Nurses are always a challenge to find,” Spies said.“ Pediatric
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