A new home for the Stollery
Alberta needs a new children’s hospital. You can help.
The Stollery is the only children’s hospital in a major Canadian city that is woven through an adult hospital. It also provides some of the most specialized care in Canada. But the space doesn’t match the talent.
Join our journey
On this page
ShowWhere are we today?
Here’s what we know, based on Alberta Health Services’ 2022 needs-assessment:
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No room to grow
Alberta’s population is growing quickly. The Stollery serves all of northern Alberta, but because it’s woven between floors of an adult health-care facility, it can’t grow with the population it serves. -
Not enough privacy
Two-thirds of the Stollery’s beds are in shared spaces, with families experiencing life-changing moments separated only by thin curtains. Sharing rooms is hard on kids, and makes it even harder for families to provide essential support. -
Clinical spaces are too small
Clinical resources like many operating rooms were functional when they were built more than 40 years ago, but today they are too small to fit many modern, life-saving technologies. -
Built for adults
The Stollery serves kids across northern Alberta, but because of space constraints, it can’t have a truly child-friendly design. There’s no space to hide the things that might cause a child stress, build outdoor spaces with proven therapeutic benefits or provide access to technology to connect kids to home.
Where are we going?
Here’s how a new Stollery Children’s Hospital would help us deliver family-centred pediatric care for all of northern Alberta:
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Integrated health
When everything a child needs to get better is available under one roof, they have better health outcomes. A new Stollery would bring mental health resources, virtual care, research and training all under one roof. -
Dignity and privacy
Single-patient rooms are an essential part of a supportive healing environment. A new Stollery would get families out of shared spaces and into their own rooms. -
Reduced wait times
More space means more beds and shorter wait times for Alberta families. -
Parent resources
A better-equipped space also supports patients’ families. Whether it’s care-by-parent beds or family support, a new Stollery could do even more for parents and caregivers. - Resources for providers
With more physical space, a new Stollery can accommodate new technologies, teaching opportunities, meeting spaces and outpatient clinics. When we make a long-term commitment to our children’s health, it shows the best health-care talent they can commit to Alberta. - Child-first design
A new Stollery would be built with children in mind. It would conceal the scary parts of their health-care journey through innovative design, and let kids focus on healing and building trust with their providers.
Lend your voice
It’s time to build a new Stollery designed for kids and their families.
Join us on the journey towards a new Stollery by signing up for email updates, opportunities to share feedback and ways you can get involved.
Show your support for a new Stollery with a free lawn sign available at the following locations:
Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation office
800 College Plaza, 8215 – 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2C8
During business hours (M-F 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., closed between noon and 1 p.m.)
RE/MAX 2000 Realty
858A Carmichael Lane, Hinton, AB T7V 1Y6
During business hours (M-F 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
RE/MAX Vision Realty
5115 50 St, Drayton Valley, AB
During business hours (M-F 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
Contact us for more information about our advocacy work
Katherine Sweet
Vice President, External Relations & Communications 780.431.8908 katherine.sweet@stollerykids.comFrequently asked questions
The Stollery Children’s Hospital provides world-class care to kids who are sick or injured. But the space doesn’t match the talent.
Several Stollery spaces have been renovated to a modern pediatric care standard. But we can only renovate so much, which doesn’t address the challenge of operating a children’s hospital woven throughout an adult hospital designed 50 years ago for a different population.
Yes, the Stollery Children’s Hospital is woven throughout adult spaces. Common areas like the cafeteria and respite areas are shared with everyone, and some clinical spaces treat kids and adults together.
Kids and their families deserve a dedicated space that is just their own and sends the message that kids are important. This is how children’s hospitals are designed today, such as the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver and the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon, both built in the last five years.
The Stollery is the only children’s hospital in Canada that’s woven into an adult health-care facility. Because the adult and the children’s hospitals are combined in one space, both hospitals are maxed out. Our population is young and growing, and there’s no room for the Stollery to grow with the province it serves. Many units lack the storage space they need. There often isn’t enough privacy, and shared rooms are problematic when you have families alongside each patient. In fact, it’s standard for modern pediatric hospitals to have 100 per cent of beds in private rooms, and at the Stollery, only around a third are. It’s also a pediatric standard that the overall design is child-friendly and sends the message that kids are important and hospitals aren’t scary. Building a new Stollery will also free up beds for adults!
Requirements for Stollery staff will be determined through the Alberta Health Services planning process. Staffing for a new hospital would be part of the planning process undertaken by Alberta Health Services down the road should the Government of Alberta say yes to a new Stollery.
The Stollery serves kids from across northern Alberta and some from our neighbouring provinces and territories. It’s one of the top three most specialized children’s hospitals in Canada and treats some of the most complex cases.
Unfortunately, we’ve outgrown our current facility. Patient visits to the Stollery have increased, with the emergency department seeing approximately 148 emergency visits per day. A new building means more space for kids in a young and growing province (and more space for adults at our current facility).
Our friends at the Alberta Children’s Hospital are fabulous, and we work closely together. The two hospitals serve different geographic catchment areas and have different specializations. Depending on the case, kids may be sent to the Stollery for specialized treatment and vice versa.
AHS has identified a preference for a new Stollery Children’s Hospital to be closely connected to the U of A Hospital, but no specific site has been designated. This would come at a later stage in the hospital-planning process that AHS and the Government of Alberta lead.
When the Stollery Children’s Hospital moves into its new space, it will free up 160 beds at the U of A Hospital for adults.
The Government of Alberta is currently in the initial planning phase for the hospital. Once a site is selected and a plan is made for what functions are needed and how the hospital will operate, the project will enter the design planning phase.
The Stollery Children’s Hospital is Canada’s second-largest children’s hospital by bed count, the most specialized in Western Canada, and the only one woven through an adult hospital. This co-location in a maxed-out space creates inefficiencies and doesn’t meet modern pediatric standards. Alberta has the highest growth rate of the provinces and territories in Canada, adding more than 200,000 people a year. The province is expected to surpass the five-million mark as early as 2025. One-quarter of the population is 19 or younger. There is no room for the hospital to grow with the population it serves. A purpose-built children’s hospital will provide the most healing environment for patients and families, empowering them to be partners in their care and enabling staff to do their best work. A new children’s hospital will accommodate our growing population.