Thanks to a $2 million donation from the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin plans to create an outpatient treatment center for children impacted by cancer and blood disorders.
The Northwestern Mutual Day Hospital for Childhood Cancer, slated to open in early 2015, will be located in a renovated space on the fifth floor of Children’s Hospital, located in Wauwatosa, and will include examination, treatment and conference rooms.
It will also hold a community room where families of patients can gather during times of treatment and where patients and families can take part in fun and educational activities guided by specially trained staff members.
The new space will support the hospital’s commitment to quality treatment and will also foster a “family-friendly” environment for patients, their relatives and their friends.
“In my view, one of the contributing factors to how well one responds to treatment and responds to the cancer they’re dealing with is how well they feel about the facility, the place they’re at and the people who are treating them,” said John Kordsmeier, vice president of strategic philanthropy and president of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, which represents the charitable arm of Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual.
Any way the environment of a treatment facility can be enhanced “can only reinforce the positive nature of the treatment they’re receiving,” Kordsmeier said.
