SYRACUSE — Construction continues at Upstate University Hospital to create a new pediatric emergency department, which is scheduled to open in August.

The hospital invited reporters on a tour June 30 to see the construction area on the facility’s fourth floor.

The project’s total cost, including equipment, is $3 million, according to Upstate.

The new pediatric emergency department will be about twice as large as the existing department, and feature 18 private exam rooms with capacity for 24 patients, according to the hospital.

People come here for a “multitude” of reasons, ranging from minor to major, Dr. Richard Cantor, director of the pediatric emergency department at Upstate University Hospital, said in speaking to reporters.

With the need for emergency services, the public has to understand that a child in an emergency department “is not an adult,” he added.

“They’re not satisfied with watching television and having a soda. They need parents around them and cohorts and their siblings. They need a pleasant environment,” said Cantor.

Cantor has served as director of Upstate’s pediatric emergency department for more than 30 years, he said.

He conceded that Upstate University Hospital has “always had a real problem” downstairs [in the existing emergency department] controlling the “environmental stressors.”

That won’t be the case in the new department.

“A child will never see an adult in [this] waiting room; a child will be in a child-friendly room,” Cantor added.

The new pediatric emergency department will include a separate waiting room for families away from the adult emergency department, a characteristic that Upstate considers a “highlight” of the project.

The renovated space also will have its own “pediatric-friendly,” diagnostic radiology unit, Upstate said.

Upstate University Hospital had the space designed and furnished “with kids in mind,” with gaming systems and games for all ages.

“[Upstate] University Hospital is investing $3 million in this enterprise … that’s a big deal,” said Cantor.

The Upstate pediatric emergency department averages more than 27,000 visits annually.

When asked why so many children come to Upstate, Cantor contended that it’s because people know “where the expertise is.” He also referred to the area’s urgent-care facilities that he said “do a great job up to a certain complexity level.”

“We network with them and they send a ton of kids here for further work,” said Cantor.

The work on the Upstate University Hospital project started last fall.

“Our physical plant department is doing a lot of the work and they subcontract out the specialty work,” Robert Marzella, chief operating officer of Upstate University Hospital, said in response to a question from CNYBJ.

Clinton–based Nelson Associates Architectural Engineering handled the project design, Upstate said.

The space previously housed a “ward” for kids, Cantor said. It also formerly housed the Waters Center for Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders, a pediatric, hematology-oncology outpatient cancer site which eventually moved to the Upstate Cancer Center.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com