Construction at UPMC‘‍s new Children‘‍s South health care facility in South Fayette is 90 percent complete and on target to open Sept. 29. That’‍s also the closing date for UPMC‘‍s existing pediatric care facility on Oxford Drive in Bethel Park.

“This is a mini-Children’‍s Hospital for pediatric care,” said Andrew Urbach, associate chief medical officer at Children‘‍s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

“We are always asked to come to the communities,” Dr. Urbach said. “People want our care. We are bringing the same quality of care while cutting your drive.” 

The new Children‘‍s South at 100 Hickory Grade Road will offer more services than the Bethel Park facility, UPMC officials told members of the media who got a look at the new center on Monday. It is near the Bridgeville exit of Interstate 79, near Route 50 and next to the building that used the house the Starz movie theater, which will be the South Fayette Township Civic Center.

“We’‍ve been in Bethel Park for 15 years, but we‘‍ve outgrown that facility,” said Kathly Guatteri, vice president of outpatient services for Children’‍s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and president of Children‘‍s Community Pediatrics. The South Fayette facility is twice as large and has 49 exam rooms.

Services offered at the new facility will include adolescent medicine; allergy; cardiology; cleft-craniofacial; dentistry; endocrinology; ear, nose and throat; gastroenterology; neurology; orthopedics; plastic surgery; pulmonary; sleep medicine; and urology. Blood will be able to be drawn there, and X-rays, ultrasound and MRIs will be available.

Physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychiatric services and child and family counseling also will be offered as well as a cochlear implant clinic, which currently is available only in Lawrenceville. After-hours pediatric care will be available.  

About 30 additional staff members have been hired to work in the new Children‘‍s South, Ms. Guatteri said.

The ambulatory care facility will save many parents in the South suburbs from making trips to Lawrenceville to Children’‍s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. About 70,000 visits are expected in the first year and that number is expected to grow to 100,000.

The new $24 million building will contain 60,000 square feet and be four stories tall. 

Colors used for walls, floors and carpets are bright and cheerful and include lavender, pink, peach, teal, purple, red and green.

Linda Wilson Fuoco: lfuoco@post-gazette.com or 412-722-0087.

First Published: July 10, 2014, 5:18 a.m.