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Wake Forest Baptist Health Plans $30M Outpatient Children's Center

A rendering of the planned Brenner Children's Hospital outpatient center. Courtesy of Wake Forest Baptist Health.

Wake Forest Baptist Health has announced plans to build a children's outpatient center, representing an investment of at least $30 million in the Triad.

The outpatient center is expected to offer a full range of pediatric clinics and services, along with imaging, on-site lab, and pharmacy services.

In a news release, Alisa Starbuck, president of Brenner Children's Hospital, said the facility will be “the region's only outpatient center of its kind, dedicated entirely to children-from infants to teens.”

Plans are underway to construct a nearly 50,000 square foot multi-level building to house the center. A site has not yet been chosen, but the health system says families, local officials, and pediatric experts will all be involved in the planning and design process.

The project is the latest step Wake Forest Baptist Health is attributing to its merger with Charlotte-based Atrium Health. The merger was finalized last October, with analysts predicting the partnership would have an annual economic impact of $32 billion and some 180,000 jobs.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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