Look inside Austin's new Dell Children's North Campus

The Dell Children's Medical Center North Campus will open Thursday.

Families living in Williamson County and far North Austin have been begging for a closer children's emergency room and hospital that won't force them to use congested stretches of Interstate 35 to reach the Dell Children's main campus in East Austin.

The new hospital, at 9010 N. Lake Creek Parkway, sits east of the 183-A tollway and south of Avery Ranch Boulevard.

Here are some things to know about the hospital, a $191 million project that is part of a $700 million overall investment by Ascension Texas in its Dell Children's hospitals and clinics in the past three years.

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How big is the Dell Children's North Campus?

The four-story hospital will open with 36 beds and has additional room to expand. It's attached to a medical office building for Dell Children's specialists.

The first-floor emergency department has 18 rooms. Dell Children's expects to see 45 to 50 children a day, said Cathy Heckenlively, chief administrative officer at the Dell Children’s North Campus.

In comparison, the main campus added 72 beds in November for a total of 299.

The new campus' second floor has two operating rooms with space for expansion, two procedure rooms and two sedation rooms.

What will Dell Children's North Campus specialize in?

The new hospital is a Level III (out of four) trauma center, which means it can handle typical emergencies. The main campus is the only Level I trauma center for an 11-county area.

The north campus has most of the emergency room capabilities that the main campus has, but children who need an elevated level of trauma care will be taken by helicopter or ambulance to the main campus. The north campus will have its own ambulance team housed there. For parents wondering which children's hospital to go to during an emergency, pick the closest, and a doctor can determine if elevated care is needed.

The north campus will do typical childhood surgeries such as appendix or tonsil removal, placing ear tubes and setting broken bones.

Very specialized surgeries, such as those performed on the heart, brain or spine, and fetal surgeries still will be done at the main campus.

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What are some of the features of this hospital?

• The check-in is simplified for surgeries, hospitalization or imaging and is in the lobby. There is an on-site pharmacy in the lobby that anyone can use.
• All inpatient rooms were designed to be universal, so they can easily be switched from a medical/surgical bed to an intensive care unit or vice versa.
• Rooms have pullout couches, windows and oversized bathrooms for both patients and guardians.
• All inpatient and ER rooms are laid out in a circle with the nurses station in the middle for good eyes-on access.
• Expanded rehabilitation is on-site, with a rehab gym on the first floor. "People are absolutely chomping at the bit to come here," Heckenlively said. She expects appointments will fill up quickly.
• MRI, CT scan and ultrasound rooms are all themed with wall-cling decorations: ocean, beach, space. Even the ceilings have art in that theme.
• The third-floor child life play room will have activities and play opportunities for children in the hospital.
• Yes, there will be a gift shop and a cafeteria, too.
• The medical office building is connected to the hospital by a closed-in walkway, making the gift shop, cafeteria, pharmacy and other hospital services available to families attending a doctor's visit next door.
• Many of the staff will be familiar to regular patients. Nurses, therapists and doctors who worked at the main campus have migrated to the north campus.
• Ronald McDonald House is in the building. Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas has a third-floor suite with a large living room space for parents and guardians, with laundry and kitchen facilities. There are also two hotel room spaces for families needing an extended stay. Ronald McDonald House will staff the suite.

Why does there need to be a north campus?

As Austin has grown, so has the number of children, especially in Williamson County and the far North Austin area. In 2000, the Austin metropolitan area had 1.25 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2010, the population had grown to 1.7 million, and as of 2020, it was 2.3 million.

Williamson County grew 44% from 2010 to 2020, and Travis Country grew 26% in that time.

More children's hospital growth is coming

Hospital systems expect the area population keep growing. Next February, Texas Children's Hospital will open its first hospital outside of Houston, less than 2 miles from the Dell Children's North Campus.

The $485 million project at 9835 N. Lake Creek Parkway, near Texas 45, will have a 365,000-square-foot hospital and a 170,000-square-foot outpatient specialty building. Texas Children's also has bought land south of Austin for expansion to tie into the growth in southern Travis County and Hays County, whose population grew 55.4% from 2010 to 2020.