Building for ambulatory care: Children's Hospital grows with the times. Interview by Karen Gardner

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, a 294-bed regional referral center, was the first dedicated children's hospital established in the United States in 1855. Although 39 percent of its beds are designated for intensive care, in 1985 the hospital's board recognized the necessity of expanding its ambulatory care capacity. Much of the credit for implementation of this vision goes to Roger Colley--a trustee recruited in 1983 for his business acumen. At the time he joined the board, Colley had been president of Betz Laboratories Inc., Philadelphia. In 1988, Colley started his own company--Envirogen--a company dedicated to finding new, innovative and lower-cost technologies for treating toxic and hazardous industrial waste. He is president and CEO of Envirogen, Lawrenceville, NJ. Colley was one of the original members of the hospital's long-range planning committee and served as chairman of the board's building and grounds committee during construction (from 1987-89) of the six-story Richard D. Wood Ambulatory Care Center. He recently spoke with Trustee editor Karen Gardner about the process of building this new facility, which opened in September 1989.