Cohen Children's Medical Center opens new $110M operating complex

Cohen Children’s Medical Center has opened a new $110 million pediatric surgery center that combines high-tech gear with features meant to calm the nerves of young patients.

The new Damaghi Family Pediatric Surgical Operating Complex will offer general surgery as well as cardiothoracic, neurologic and orthopedic procedures at the New Hyde Park hospital, the state’s largest provider of pediatric medical care and biggest Level 1 pediatric trauma center.

The 24,000-square-foot complex's eight operating suites include large works of colorful art that are intended to “create an unintimidating environment,” New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health said in a statement. Patients can watch videos or listen to music before procedures, and surgical instruments that might seem frightening are kept out of view when young patients first enter the room, Northwell said.

The “surgical and aesthetic needs” of children, from premature infants to adolescents, “are absolutely unique and quite different than those for adults,” Dr. Charles Schleien, senior vice president and chair of pediatric services at Northwell Health, said in a statement.

Each 600-square-foot operating suite includes no-shadow lighting and four 50-inch monitors that can display 3D renderings and magnified views of surgical procedures as well as readouts of patients' vital signs.

The complex in the hospital’s five-story Blumenfeld Family Pavilion also includes the new Gertrude and Louis Feil Post-Anesthesia Care Unit, with 27 recovery bays and a medical playroom for children before and after surgery.

More than 8,000 patients undergo medical procedures at Cohen Children’s each year, the health system said. Before the complex opened, surgeries took place in operating rooms shared with adjoining Long Island Jewish Medical Center. The facility is expected to reduce surgical wait times and help with recruiting medical staff, Northwell said.

Construction of the complex was funded in part by donations by First Quality Enterprises, a paper goods manufacturing company in Great Neck founded by the Damaghi family, and by the Damaghi, Blumenfeld and Feil families, Northwell said.

Dr. Jose Prince, surgeon in chief at Cohen Children’s, said in a statement that the complex “is where we as surgeons work to save and protect the dreams of our patients and their families as we teach surgery to the next generation of pediatric surgeons.”

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.