Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Awarded $1 Million Grant to Enhance Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC has been awarded a $1 million state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant to nearly triple the size of the hospital’s cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) from 12 beds to 33 beds.

The CICU at Children’s Hospital provides critical cardiac care to infants and children with congenital or acquired heart disease and adults with congenital heart disease. The Heart Institute at Children’s has one of the top-ranked pediatric cardiothoracic surgery programs in the country, with surgeons who provide complex, life-saving heart surgeries including transplantation.

Children’s had one of the lowest overall four-year surgical mortality rates among all high-volume programs and was awarded a 3-Star rating by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (2012-2016), one of only 11 programs in the country to receive this distinction. In addition, the Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery Report, released in June 2017 by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4), reports that the Heart Institute at Children's Hospital is a statewide leader in pediatric heart surgery outcomes.

“We sincerely thank Governor Wolf and Senators Joe Scarnati and Wayne Fontana for their commitment and longtime support of our patients at Children’s Hospital,” said Christopher Gessner, president, Children’s Hospital. “This is an essential expansion for our world class congenital heart program that will enable our cardiac team to better meet the needs of patients and their families.”

The Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) is used for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects. Qualifying projects have a regional or multi-jurisdictional impact, help create or maintain jobs, and generate economic activity.

For more information, visit www.chp.edu.