SPRINGDALE (KFSM) -- When Arkansas Children's Northwest opens in Springdale in January 2018, it will be a full-service hospital, but for now that will not include an intensive care unit like the one at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock.
"We will have inpatient services, outpatient clinics, full range of diagnostic and treatment services and large operative suites," Arkansas Children's President and CEO Marcy Doderer said Tuesday (Aug. 2).
Doderer said there are no immediate plans for an intensive care unit at the Springdale campus because currently it makes more sense to keep that highly specialized unit in the area with the greatest population, which right now is Central Arkansas.
"It is a matter of time really and not very long," she said.
Doderer said when the population shift does happen, Arkansas Children's will be able to add an intensive care unit in the future. So while some young patients may still have travel to Little Rock during critical emergencies, Doderer said the new campus in Springdale will save thousands of families the trip.
"Most of those families will be able to remain here in Northwest Arkansas and get their care for surgery, for outpatient clinics, for imaging services, for an inpatient stay," she said.
On Tuesday, Arkansas Children's received its largest donation ever from the Tyson family and Tyson Foods. The $15 million donation will go toward hospital construction, which will now include the Tyson Family Tower.