By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Imagine if going to the emergency room with a child meant sitting in small nooks filled with natural light, walls painted with bright murals that depict children's literature classics, video games and the Internet.
That is the experience created at the new Cohen Children's Emergency Department at the NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, which welcomed families for the first time Thursday.
Few things can make the experience of going to the hospital fun, but officials at Manhattan's only children's hospital are hoping the new facility will at least make the experience more comfortable.
"[It] will help us to continue to provide the highest level of care for acutely ill and injured children from birth to age 20, while paying special attention to the comfort of our young patients and their families," said Dr. Lawrence Stanberry, pediatrician-in-chief at the hospital and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The new facility on Broadway, between 165th and 166th streets, improves upon the aesthetics of the old emergency room while quadrupling the amount of space to 25,000 square feet.
Two years in the making, the department will now be able to serve approximately 60,000 children each year in 26 private treatment rooms, four triage rooms, two trauma rooms and a nine-bay asthma treatment area.
The facility, one of only three Level 1 pediatric trauma centers in New York State, was created through a $50 million donation provided by the Steven A. and Alexandra M. Cohen Foundation.
