Children's Pavilion Dedication

Healing will begin the moment our patients and families enter the doors of Children’s Pavilion. The first floor is not only home to a full-service café, but it is also the entry point for the important work that will take place on our inpatient floors, which are accessed through a discreet elevator entrance off the atrium lobby.

To keep our hospitalized patients safe at all times, families visiting the inpatient floors will pass through a safety screening area as they enter.

The first floor indoor and outdoor spaces also introduce visitors to CHKD’s use of art to enhance our environment of healing.

Children need time to play, and regular exercise is proven to reduce stress, elevate mood, and contribute to a child’s overall sense of well-being. The Pavilion’s top floor features our rooftop recreation area, which offers fresh air, sunlight, and a chance for children to play safely outside, as well as expansive views of downtown Norfolk and the Elizabeth River. Here, therapy can occur while playing basketball on our outdoor court, dribbling a soccer ball on the grassy turf area, or enjoying a game of four square. Patients can also play giant puzzle games and benefit from horticulture therapy using rolling planters that will arrive soon.

One of our main patient floors, the 13th floor, features 12 inpatient beds and some of our most unique mental health inpatient services, plus recreation and creative expression spaces.

Indoor Gym

Exercise and recreational therapy will be provided in our two-story indoor recreation space, which includes a half-court basketball area, exercise studio, and space to accommodate many types of indoor activities such as mind-body practices like yoga.

Music Therapy Room and Recording Studio

The ability to appreciate music, interact with it, and even to perform will be part of the therapeutic experience. Music therapy can help our patients address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs, providing avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves. This space features a soundproof individual practice and recording studio, allowing our patients to capture their expressions of music, lyrics, poetry, or the spoken word.

Art Therapy Room

In our art therapy room, patients of all ages can express themselves through the visual arts and the creative process. Through drawing, painting, collage, coloring, or sculpting, art helps children and adolescents communicate, explore their emotions, improve self-esteem, relieve stress, and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Display cases line the hallway so that patient artwork can be appreciated by others.

A special art installation can be found in this room. As a companion to the three rotating colorful discs in the main lobby, our inpatients will experience the soothing creativity of Venezuelan artist Manuel Mérida’s green Cercles which rotates on a motor to produce infinite, unpredictable moments of beauty as the green paint pigment cascades in perpetual motion.

Family Lounge

Spectacular views from this space provide parents with a place of respite while their children are busy in treatment. With a refreshment center and comfortable seating, this is a place where parents can take a break, catch up on phone calls or emails, and commune with each other while staying close to their children while they’re in the hospital.

Group Therapy, Dining, and Gathering Spaces

Our mental health patients will spend much of their time outside of their rooms engaging in individual and group therapy sessions, continuing their schoolwork with on-site teachers, and engaging in recreation and creative expression. Several areas on each inpatient floor are dedicated to these activities.

Wall Nooks

Recessed nooks built into walls throughout the inpatient space give children a cozy spot to curl up with a good book or enjoy a moment of quiet amid the activity that surrounds them.

The 11th, 12th, and 13th floors of Children’s Pavilion host a total of 60 inpatient rooms. The 11th and 12th floors accommodate 24 rooms each, and the 13th floor includes 12 inpatient rooms. Eight of the beds on the 13th floor are for children who have a primary psychiatric condition and a secondary medical condition, like diabetes or an eating disorder, that will require ongoing medical care while the child is receiving mental health care. Four beds are for children who have a primary psychiatric diagnosis along with a neurodevelopmental condition, like autism. With only a handful of facilities in the U.S. offering these services, CHKD is addressing an extraordinary need.

The 10th floor is shelled space that can accommodate another 24 inpatient beds if the need arises to expand our programs.

Keeping Patients Safe

Every facet of our patient rooms has been designed for the unique safety needs of children undergoing acute mental health treatment. Specially designed door handles, hinges, sprinkler heads, weighted venting system, and window blinds behind glass minimize patients’ risk of self-harm. Window glass and drywall are impact-resistant, and “pick-proof” caulk is used so everything stays in place. In addition, all movable furniture is filled with sand to make it ultra-heavy and resistant to being lifted. 

Patient Room Features:

• Beautiful colors and soothing graphic elements.
• A large window with spectacular views and abundant light. Patients can control their view with window blinds inside the glass.
• Comfortable and colorful furniture.
• A textured wall element beside each patient’s bed, allowing for soothing sensory input.
• A color-changing light above the bed with a choice of eight colors a patient can chose from.
• A built-in desk and storage spaces. 

Children’s Pavilion provides a setting that integrates mental health care with other routine medical services so that patients feel as comfortable seeking mental health treatment as they do visiting their pediatrician for checkups or their sports medicine physician for an injury on the field. Children’s Pavilion is also home to a state-of-the-art conference center.

2nd Floor

This floor is home to our new conference center, which provides meeting space for professional and community education and collaboration. The space can be used for one large gathering or divided into three smaller or two mid-sized meeting rooms. Plans for an outpatient pharmacy are also in progress for this floor.

4th Floor

General Academic Pediatrics, located on the 4th floor, provides primary care pediatrics with a focus on the physical, emotional, educational, and social needs of children and their families. Services include routine care, well visits, sick visits, vaccinations, and coordination of care for underserved families and patients with complex medical needs.

5th Floor (not pictured)

On the 5th floor, our sports medicine program offers clinic visits with sports medicine specialists for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of sports injuries, concussion care, nutrition and hydration assessment, and more. Outpatient lab and radiology services are also offered on this floor.

9th Floor

The 9th floor is devoted to outpatient mental health services, including our full-day partial hospitalization program for children who need intensive treatment but are able to spend nights and weekends at home.

Additional unoccupied spaces are maintained throughout the building to allow us to grow with the needs of the patients we serve.