A look inside U of M's Masonic Children's Hospital

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

The hospital staff there serves a broad range of pediatric programs, including cardiac and cancer with a focus that includes patient family as well.

From the moment you walk through the doors, you know you’re someplace special.

Dr. Chris Moertel is a pediatric neurooncologist. He showed off the building’s family resource center.

“It’s really laid out for families so it’s a friendly, warm place,” Moertel said.

Down the hall, the hospital’s chapel is a quiet place that transcends religion.

“Think about the number of cultures that all come together here,” Moertel said. “And all of them at some point in time need to interact with the medical community.”

The hospital is a gentle reminder that the hurt and the hope in the building are both very real.

The place strives to go above and beyond the patient and family experience, where the world’s pediatric medical magic happens.

The first open heart surgery, the first bone marrow transplant and countless other scientific advances have come out of Masonic Children’s Hospital.

“But now they’re using it to make new organs like skin and it’s just amazing watching, once again, science come to the bedside,” Moertel said.

That is the mission at the hospital: To make sure every patient knows, from the moment they walk through the doors, that they are someone special.

“There’s lots of places that provide good patient care but we’re the place that provides good patient care and are moving the field forward,” Moertel said.