Norton Healthcare has never been hesitant to seize an opportunity when the moment arises. The Louisville-based healthcare system was a pioneer in publicly posting quality scores and one of the first to conduct a pediatric heart transplant. When it opened in November 2024, Norton West Louisville Hospital became the first new hospital located west of Ninth Street in over 150 years.
So, when Norton Children’s was presented with an opportunity to completely reimagine children's healthcare, it naturally leapt at the chance. The eventual product promises to be revolutionary—a new pediatric care campus spanning 150 acres, featuring a full-service hospital, research facilities, and specialty services, all set amid a village of healing that will cater to the comprehensive needs of pediatric patients and their families.
"I think that we proved with Norton West Louisville hospital that we are willing to be that organization that steps up and does things that have never been done before," said Russell F. Cox, president and CEO of Norton Healthcare and Norton Children's. "We kind of look at it as our responsibility to come to work every day and figure out new and better ways to do things for our patients."
The new pediatric campus, to be located near the intersection of Interstate 64 and Interstate 265 in Jefferson County, certainly aligns with that mission. When will it open, and what will it look like? All that remains to be determined. Norton Children’s first step is to undertake a series of listening sessions to learn exactly what community members want in the new pediatric campus, with the first session scheduled for 6 p.m. on July 29 at Tully Elementary School.
A different approach
Norton Children's Hospital, located at 231 East Chestnut St. in downtown Louisville, has been a beacon for families in need of both routine and specialized pediatric care for decades. Designed in the 1980s to accommodate 100 to 150 patients daily on an inpatient basis, it's now handling 200 to 250. An emergency department built to treat 20,000 children a year is now seeing nearly 50,000. The building has grown taller and wider over time but has maximized its footprint in the process.
"When you look at the downtown medical campus, there is no room," Cox said. "And especially for the concept of the pediatric village that we're talking about, we needed acreage. There are a lot of folks who depend on our Norton Children's Hospital facility downtown for their services, and we want to make sure that those services continue there. But to have something that's going to be unlike anything else in the country, we wanted to have enough land to actually do it in a different way."
The new pediatric campus will not replace, but will build on the legacy of Norton Children’s current downtown location. At 150 acres, it will become one of the largest children's healthcare facilities in the country. The village concept means it will cater to a spectrum of family and patient needs, perhaps from lodging and restaurants to even dry-cleaning services. And Norton Children’s envisions the facility putting a premium on addressing pediatric mental health, which Cox believes is woefully undertreated nationwide.
"Whatever we've done as a country isn't working," he said. "We still have a way too many kids suffering from way too many issues around mental health, be it anxiety, depression, ADHD, food. There are all kinds of things at play here, and they're not going away. It's not getting any better. So, one of the things I'm really hopeful for with this campus is that we're able to get the greatest minds together and come up with a better way of helping pediatric patients with these mental and behavioral issues."
It's just one way the new Norton Children’s campus aims to fill the nationwide gap in pediatric specialty care. The U.S. ranks among the lowest developed countries in terms of children's health, according to UNICEF. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 20 percent of children ages 6 to 11 in the U.S. are obese. The deadliest conditions for children ages 5 to 9—accidents, cancer, and congenital disorders—often require specialized, ongoing care.
"We really do envision building a program and attracting a workforce that puts us on the map nationally," Cox said. "There's a lot going on right now in healthcare when you think about some of the stresses that we're seeing around funding on certain things. So, we really do believe that there's an opportunity for us to attract a workforce that really wants to be part of something different."
Planning a village
Norton Healthcare is no stranger to listening sessions—it also conducted community meetings prior to the design of Norton West Louisville Hospital, and incorporated feedback into the facility's design and function. "We learned so many things we wouldn't have learned," Cox said. "Otherwise, we would have used the same old thinking."
There will be no same old thinking with the new pediatric campus, which will be crafted from a completely blank slate. Norton Children’s listening tour will extend for 12 to 18 months and go beyond Kentucky and Indiana—given the expected national reach of the new hospital, listening sessions are also planned for neighboring states, such as Ohio and Tennessee.
Those interested in attending can "Follow the Balloon" to learn where and when listening sessions are taking place. An online survey is also available for those who are unable to attend in person. Norton Children’s wants to hear from parents, physicians, nurses, public officials, and even children about what they envision for a campus that promises to reimagine pediatric healthcare in both Louisville and the nation.
"We're going to talk to as many people as possible before we ever sit down with an architect and begin the process of the blueprint," Cox said. “There's a whole village to plan out—hotel spaces, restaurants, research buildings, academic buildings. We're planning a campus, a village, and we want to listen. We want to do it differently than anybody's ever done it before."
Are you interested in learning more about the new Norton Children’s pediatric campus? Register now to attend one of the upcoming listening sessions, or visit NortonChildrens.com/New-Campus for further information.
