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| Children’s Specialized Hospital: Transition to Greatness |
| Specialized Hosp. | |
| Written by Amanda Gaines | |
| Saturday, 01 December 2007 | |
 Amy Mansue outlines how this hospital grew into its place as one of the best pediatric rehabilitation facilities in the nation.
Once they had her heart, there was no turning back. When Amy Mansue, president and CEO of Children’s Specialized Hospital, walked through the doors of the pediatric rehabilitation hospital in 2003, it was to replace the man who had led his staff on the charge to becoming a national leader in pediatric rehabilitation. His sudden passing left the staff reeling, and Mansue knew the only way to start the healing process was to pay homage to the team’s hard work by implementing their new mission, vision, and strategic plan.  Amy Mansue, President and CEO One step further Children’s Specialized Hospital began in the summer of 1891 when citizens in rural Westfield, NJ gathered to discuss their concerns regarding the health of children living in tenements in nearby cities. Throughout its 116-year history, the hospital has continued to address the healthcare needs of children, but it wasn’t until 2001 that the staff, administration, and board decided to take their mission one step further. Since then, the hospital has grown from revenues of $23 million to $80 million, and Mansue is preparing to present a $100 million 2008 budget to the hospital’s board in December. The staff size has grown from roughly 400 to about 1,200, and the once four-sited hospital is about to open its 11th in New Brunswick, NJ. PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital, set to be completed in early December, was designed and developed by the hospital’s key stakeholders, including line staff, parents, board members, and administrators—all of whom determined which direction to take the 28,000-square-foot, 60-bed inpatient facility. “The rooms in our current facility have four beds, but four kids and four parents in one room with medical equipment tends to be a crowded environment,” Mansue said. “The development team determined how to make the new rooms as comfortable as possible while building on the validation we regularly see, which is that kids with similar disabilities challenge each other to do better.” The new patient rooms will be two-bedded, with storage space for families to accommodate the 40-day average hospitals stays, individual lighting controls for each patient, larger bathrooms, and therapy space for kids who can’t make it to the gym for their sessions. The facility also includes laundry areas, adolescent teen rooms, and den areas for families to relax. Although she could imagine the impact the new facility would have on patients and their families, it wasn’t until Mansue walked through the construction site with the mother of a former patient that it became a reality. “When we finished the tour, she had tears in her eyes,” recalled Mansue. “She said to me, ‘You listened. You heard all of the things I said needed to be different, and you captured them.’ I don’t think we could have asked for a better compliment.” Pieces of the puzzle A number of factors have contributed to the success and national recognition of Children’s Specialized Hospital. The first stems from the board’s insistence that the hospital affiliate with a larger partner to both improve quality and grab the attention of the managed care companies infiltrating the healthcare industry in the early 1990s. “Being such a small player, we couldn’t get the managed care companies’ attention,” Mansue said. “Fortunately, very few children need our kind of services, but those who do truly need them. The hospital was looking for a partner to help us get the respect we deserved while allowing us to maintain our independence.” The hospital found that partner in the Robert Wood Johnson Health System. Nearly 20 years later, when the hospital was looking for a place to lay the foundation to its newest site, Robert Wood Johnson System’s New Brunswick home seemed the most logical fit. When the board looked at the top children’s hospitals in the country, they had four similarities: they were on an academic medical school campus, they were involved in children’s research, they were tied to an acute care hospital, and they offered rehabilitation services. “In New Jersey, New Brunswick is the one place in which those elements came together. We didn’t join with Robert Wood Johnson System with the notion that we would eventually move there, but it was a nice fit.” The second contributing factor to the success of Children’s Specialized Hospital is in its adherence to its five core values. It’s not enough, said Mansue, to be a skilled clinician. Teamwork, compassion, excellence, and innovation are also key, but when working with children, the most important piece of the puzzle is to have fun. “Even when we’re dealing with the most difficult and tragic cases, we need to have fun because they’re children, and they deserve that,” she said. “In every site we’ve opened and every program we’ve taken on, those core values have driven our continued success.” As the demand for pediatric services continues to grow (the hospital currently has a six- to seven-month waiting list) and recruiting pediatric specialists becomes more difficult, Mansue understands she has a lot of work to do. But that is not the point. “Anyone can run a hospital,” she said, “but it takes the talent and commitment of the doctors, therapists, nurses, and staff to make an excellent organization. It isn’t about me. It’s about them, the work they do, and their commitment to serving the needs of our patients and their families. When you see kids who couldn’t walk when they came through our doors, walk out of them, it truly captures your heart.” |
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