‘Been wanting this for years’: Plans in the works for Nevada’s 1st children’s hospital

Chelsea Bishop had to travel to Texas, California and Utah to receive care for her 2½-year-old daughter Navy when she was diagnosed with stage four high-risk neuroblastoma.

In other states, Bishop’s daughter could receive extensive, comprehensive care in one place: the children’s hospital.

“I dotted out on a map where I go to access health care here in Nevada for my kids and I’m just dotting all the Las Vegas valley,” said Bishop. “Where I’m driving to all these private practices and independent clinics. The parent is really the case worker there.”

After noticing how disjointed the health care system was in Southern Nevada, the Las Vegas resident founded the nonprofit Act4Kids Nevada in 2023 to advocate for a solution.

Las Vegas is the only metropolitan area in the United States with more than 2 million people without a full-service children’s hospital, according to a study from The Lincy Institute — but that will soon change.

On Tuesday, Intermountain Healthcare unveiled the site for Nevada’s first stand-alone children’s hospital at UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) was a historic day for the state of Nevada for health care, and particularly for children,” said Mitchell Cloward, president of Intermountain Health’s Desert Region. “We’re excited to work with them (local pediatric health care workers) to help focus on children and bringing those back to the state who oftentimes have to leave for care.”

Plans for the hospital

The hospital hopes to bring pediatric medical and surgical subspecialists to the region, including ear, nose and throat surgeons, neurosurgeons and behavioral health specialists — which Cloward says is “foundational” service for them to provide.

Currently, the hospital’s design, clinical activities and workforce planning, which includes recruitment, are underway. In rough numbers, according to Cloward, the hospital will be 710,000 square feet, 150 to 250 beds and with room for growth.

There’s no rough price tag or anticipated date of opening associated with the project, according to Cloward, though construction is expected to take about 3.5 years once it’s started.

In September, The Lincy Institute, a public policy think tank at UNLV, published a study highlighting the need for a standalone children’s hospital in Southern Nevada. This study will “inform the work that we (Intermountain Healthcare) have to do,” said Cloward.

Nevada has 267 pediatricians to serve 640,000 children under the age of 18 and has only 59.5 available pediatricians for every 100,000 children. Nevada ranks among the lowest in clinical care, access to care, quality of care and preventive clinical services, as per the 2022 American Health Rankings Health of Women and Children Report.

Presently, Intermountain Healthcare has no partnership with UNLV other than the hospital being located on their land.

The Harry Reid Research and Technology Park, located on Sunset Road near the 215 Beltway, already hosts high profile businesses, including the T-Mobile Business Customer Experience Center. As early as 2027, the park may be the site of the Nevada Studios Campus, bringing more movie and television production to the valley.

The park is expected to create 25,000 jobs and roughly $2.6 billion in economic impact for Las Vegas, the Review-Journal reported in April.

‘Wanting this for years’

At the site unveiling on Tuesday, Bishop caught herself tearing up, saying “it’s affected our family so much.” Bishop has four children, who she said have all needed medical support at some time in their lives.

“I want [families] to feel like they walk in those doors and they will feel enveloped with resources. They will feel understood. They will feel like they are partners in the decision making for their child,” said Bishop on her hopes for the hospital. “I want them to feel like their child is in incredible hands.”

Bishop and Act4Kids Nevada know their work is not over, with the opening of the hospital years away. In the future, they hope to shape policies and be involved in future conversations.

“We do not want to point fingers at anyone who’s been working in the field here in Nevada. We are so, so grateful for the physicians and other providers,” said Bishop. “From what we’ve heard, they feel under-resourced.”

For health care workers, Lee and Terence McAllister, executive director and vice president of the Nevada Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a freestanding hospital is something they have “been wanting for years.”

“Instead of having to go to one place of employment and see patients they have to go to so many different locations,” said Lee McAllister, who works for Intermountain Healthcare in population health. “Some of our pediatric subspecialists spend too much time commuting and not enough time seeing patients.”

The McAllisters were made aware of the hospital in August 2023 when they were approached by Intermountain Healthcare leaders to get their input.

“I’ve lived here in Nevada for seven years, and even before I moved here, pediatricians, local pediatricians, have been talking about this and wanting this for years,” said Terence McAllister, who is a primary care pediatrician at Desert Valley pediatrics. “So the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.”

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Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.