Piedmont Columbus Regional has announced plans to create the region’s only freestanding Children’s Hospital in the heart of Columbus.

At a press conference and unveiling ceremony Thursday afternoon, hospital leadership revealed the former Doctors Hospital on the Piedmont Columbus Regional Midtown campus at 19^th Street will become the Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital. This transformational project is made possible thanks to a generous donation from the Bettye and Cecil Cheves family. 

“The need for quality health care for the children in Columbus and the surrounding counties affects all of us,” said Bettye and Cecil Cheves. “Our family has had several experiences over the years where our children and grandchildren had to go to Atlanta and elsewhere because the medical services they needed were not available in Columbus. We’re pleased to help bring quality and comprehensive health care for children in our community.”

Renovations to the existing facility will begin this August and the new 30-bed children’s hospital is slated to open in fall 2024. The five-floor Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital will feature a pediatric inpatient unit with several sibling (semi-private) rooms as well as isolation and behavioral safe rooms, a pediatric intensive care unit, and a pediatric intermediate care unit. Additional spaces inside the facility will be created in future phases as pediatric services are consolidated to deliver a comprehensive facility dedicated to caring for children in our area.

“We are blessed to have extraordinary local pediatricians and pediatric specialists that currently work within our children’s hospital and we are looking forward to growing to address the ongoing needs of our community,” said Piedmont Columbus Regional CEO Scott Hill. “The Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital will create a destination pediatric healthcare facility for our region and bring multiple specialty programs and clinics under one roof.”

In addition to a beautiful new exterior facade, other exciting features will include family-centered amenities such as an activity room, laundry facilities, food pantry, room service dining, separate discharge area, and an outdoor playground to ease the burden on families with loved ones in the hospital.

“The Cheves family’s generosity is making it possible for us to dream big in caring for our youngest patients,” said Piedmont Columbus Regional Foundation Executive Director Aline Lasseter. “We’re aspiring to achieve $20 million in community donations to make this dream become a reality.”

Another transformational aspect of this project is an enclosed connection corridor that will be built to link the Bill and Olivia Amos Children’s Hospital to the Piedmont Columbus Regional Midtown main hospital. This corridor will provide a convenient and efficient way for employees to transport patients, move equipment, and provide increased interoperability between the two main hospital buildings.