Phoenix Children's Hospital

Phoenix Children’s Hospital is planning to build a new emergency department in Avondale to better serve children and families in the West Valley.

Phoenix’s Children Hospital is planning to build a new emergency department in Avondale to better serve children and families in the West Valley.

“Our goal is really to deliver access to care across the health care continuum close to patients and their families so they don’t have the hassle all the time of having to find us and travel so far,” said Dr. Jared Muenzer, the physician in chief for Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

The need for a new emergency department is driven by growth in the West Valley, but with that growth comes an increase of kids with serious illnesses or injuries, Muenzer said. 

Since opening its Southwest Valley Specialty and Urgent Care Center eight years ago, Phoenix Children's Hospital has experienced a surge in patients who had critical or complex needs and required advanced care. Every year, there are more than 30,000 pediatric emergency visits in the Avondale area, but currently Muenzer said it's lacking an emergency department that specializes in children's care.

“We know and the data is out there that patients in pediatric children hospitals do very, very well from an outcome standpoint and being able to get to that care quickly in emergency situations is critically important," he said.  

The emergency department will be added to the hospital’s specialty and urgent care center in Avondale. The hospital expects to start construction later this year and open the new site by spring 2023.

Once open, it will offer 24/7 emergency care; access to physicians in more than 75 pediatric sub-specialties; 40 rooms that include triage, treatment and resuscitation rooms; six fast-track "quick turnover" beds; ultrasound, CT, fluoroscopy and digital radiography, the hospital said.