They call it an “International Center for Limb Lengthening.” It’ll be paired with a new “Gait and Motion Analysis Lab” — the only one in Florida.
As Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando embarks on a major, $300-million expansion project over the next four years, one of the highlights will be a new surgery center that will house the hospital’s orthopedics division.
There, orthopedic surgeons will be doing work on pediatric patients that’s being done nowhere else in the state.
“The new Gait and Motion Analysis Lab will be the first and only accredited gait lab in the state of Florida,” says Martha McGill, president of the Central Florida Region of Nemours Children’s Health. “This lab will use leading-edge technology to enable three-dimensional analysis of patients for more accurate assessment and diagnosis of the underlying problems that can cause an altered gait, or the manner in which a person walks.”
And what about the International Center for Limb Lengthening? McGill says it will leverage the expertise of a multidisciplinary orthopedics team “to provide an advanced level of care for pediatric patients with limb deformities, length discrepancies and abnormalities.” They’re aiming for pioneering and innovative approaches, she says, because Nemours’ orthopedics program cares for more children with fractures and complex spinal deformities than any other in Florida.
“We expect patients and families from across the country and perhaps the globe will seek this specialized care at our hospital,” she adds.
Nemours Children’s says it’s expanding the hospital because Florida’s population boom is creating a need for it. Nemours currently serves more than 300,000 children and teens in the state, and in Central Florida, the pediatric population of 1 million is expected to grow by nearly 5% over the next five years, the hospital says.
The upcoming construction at Nemours’ Orlando campus consists of three parts:
- A 110,000-sq.-ft. expansion of the hospital will double the size of its emergency department, increase space for its imaging department, and add inpatient beds and observation rooms. It’s scheduled to open to patients in 2028.
- A new 75,000-sq.-ft. building will house an expanded surgery center with six new operating rooms and new patient exam rooms. To be completed in 2028, it will house Nemours’ growing orthopedics division, including the limb lengthening center and the gait analysis lab. It will also make more space for Nemours’ sports medicine program and its outpatient rehabilitation therapy services.
- A new 75,000-sq.-ft. administrative building will include an 800-space parking garage, which will be ready in 2027.
This expansion is intended to meet immediate capacity needs as well as positioning the hospital to handle future growth. It will simply allow Nemours to treat more patients, “many of whom require highly complex care,” McGill says.
R. Lawrence Moss, president and CEO of Nemours Children’s Health, adds: “Our journey to become a nationally ranked children’s hospital here will give us the capacity to support even more families regionally, nationally and internationally.”