Akron Children’s PICU to expand, open a dedicated Heart Unit
08-26-2025 (Ohio)
Akron Children’s pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) will move into a new building today to modernize the unit in general, upgrade family amenities such offering private bathrooms and showers within patient rooms, while also adding a dedicated Heart Unit.
The PICU is moving from the 4th floor of the main hospital building to the 6th floor of the Kay Jewelers Pavilion, also home to the ER and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and originally conceived as the hospital’s critical care tower when it opened in 2015.
“The new unit will give us a lot of room to grow and give us flexibility if we have a surge in patients, such as during respiratory season,” said Dr. Patricia Raimer, PICU medical director. “We are going from 23 to 45 beds, including a 13-bed high acuity PICU, a secondary unit that can accommodate an additional 23 patients, PICU or NICU beds, depending on the need, and the 9-bed Heart Unit.”
Dr. Raimer said an added benefit of the move will be enhanced care coordination with the NICU team, located one floor above, on many neonatal cases.
The new PICU will have a procedure room for some interventional radiology procedures or other procedures that require fluoroscopy.
The unit will also have a private, quiet space for families who are often dealing with some of the most difficult situations they have faced.
Dr. Robert Stewart, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Akron Children’s, expects the dedicated Heart Unit to be a “win-win” for patients and caregivers alike.
“A single private room for the entire hospital stay will enhance the patient and family experience whether the need is for intensive care or more convalescent care. We will adjust the appropriate level of care while the patient keeps the same room through discharge,” Dr. Stewart said. “Equally critical, by concentrating all heart patients in a single location, it helps us develop a highly specialized care team focused on the heart. This expertise extends from the bedside nursing team to the multidisciplinary staff and allows us to continue to grow as a center of excellence in caring for babies and children with congenital heart disease.”
Plans to move the patients in the PICU on the day of the move have been underway for months.
