YOUR VISIT

There are several areas of the hospital you may come to visit when you are here.

Clinics

You may visit the hospital to have a visit in one of the many clinics located throughout the hospital. After the visit, you will return home with your parents.

Inpatient Unit

If you are required to stay over night at the hospital, you will stay in one of five inpatient units, or in the intensive care unit. You will be assigned to a room, and will wear an identification band around your wrist throughout your stay. In the inpatient units, your parent can sleep in the room with you, or in the intensive care unit, there are separate sleeping areas for your parents. Each inpatient unit has a playroom at the end of the hallway which provides a place to play and visit with other patients.

Day Surgery

Sometimes, children come to the Alberta Children's Hospital because they need to have a small, or minor, operation. That means that they come to the hospital early in the morning and they go to the Day Surgery area where the medical team will perform their surgery and the patient will spend some time recovering from the operation. Then they go home at the end of the day.

Emergency

The Emergency Department is the place you come to when you have very urgent concerns, like a broken leg, or a really high fever. This is also the place where children are taken when they have been in accidents. It is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year and it has a medical team, which specializes in treating children in emergency situations.

When you come to the Emergency Department, you may have to wait to see a doctor. That's because the most serious emergencies are treated first and because the Alberta Children's Hospital is the only children's hospital in Southern Alberta.

Child Life

Remember when we told you that this hospital is designed especially for children? Well, that's what our Child Life program is all about. These special staff and volunteers help our patients and their families understand what happens in the hospital and spend time with each patient who stays in the hospital to make sure they are getting to be kids, while they are receiving expert medical care. The Child Life staff are really cool. They provide all kinds of play and recreational activities for the kids. They also make sure that you are feeling comfortable and not worried about your visit to the hospital.  If you are going to be staying at the Alberta Children's Hospital, you can talk with your nurse about getting in touch with Child Life.