PITTSBURGH -- The new $625 million Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh -- which has been under construction for years -- celebrated its grand opening Thursday morning in Lawrenceville.
Neighbors have been watching as the brightly colored building slowly took shape near the corner of 45th Street and Penn Avenue over the years.
Visitors can expect "private rooms for children and their families, state-of-the art equipment and quiet equipment, so that you don't have all those bells going off and lights blinking and the like," said Mary Jo Howard Dively, of the hospital's board of trustees.
Erica Witherspoon, 15, was born with sickle cell anemia and is a frequent patient at Children's Hospital, but the vibrant setting of the new facility instantly cheers her up.
"With my illness, I have a lot of pain and they give me medicine, but that's only part of it," said Witherspoon. "I can't even imagine what it would be like to spend one night. It'll be so different because when you're at the other one it's -- I don't want to say depressing -- but it's not as bright and exciting as this one right here."
Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl were among about 200 guests at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
See inside the hospital TONIGHT on Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m. The first outpatients will arrive at the new hospital on Friday. Another group is scheduled to arrive on April 27.
Then, on May 2, the emergency room will open and ambulances will bring inpatients from the old Children's Hospital in Oakland.
"We designed this facility with significant input from patients and families, and one of the things we heard loud and clear is that we need to brighten it up," said Chris Gessner, the hospital's president. "Colors were a big part of the design features that they wanted us to have."
Gessner said the five buildings on 10 acres of land are technologically sophisticated, starting with wireless Internet.
"We are completely paperless. You can probably count on one hand the hospitals in this country that can make that statement, and that adds to patient safety, improved quality," Gessner said.
Inside the huge atrium, patients on different floors can watch movies projected in the space, and private rooms are also available, as the new hospital was designed to be more user-friendly.
"The outpatients are pretty separate from the inpatients, which will make it easier for patients and families to find their appointment," Gessner said. "They can park underground in the outpatient garage, come right up the elevator, walk right off and they're there."
Gessner said physicians, nurses and other employees offered significant input into how the new hospital was built.
"People come from all over the country to get some of the services we provide -- transplants, neuroscience -- and we're just so excited to bring those people in and make Pittsburgh proud," Gessner said.
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