Bowling Green families help shape new Norton Children’s campus

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WNKY) — Families in South Central Kentucky got a chance to share their voices Wednesday night as Norton Children’s hosted a community listening session in Bowling Green to help design its new pediatric care campus — only the second dedicated children’s hospital in the state.

The “Follow the Balloon” session at Cumberland Trace Elementary invited parents, caregivers, educators, and even children to share what they hope to see in the new facility planned for Jeffersontown, Kentucky.

“This is more than a campus; it’s a village of healing for all Kentucky families,” said Russell F. Cox, president and CEO of Norton Healthcare, the parent organization of Norton Children’s. “Bowling Green kids should receive the best care close to home but also have seamless access to a world-class hospital when they need it. We want this community to dream big and shape that vision.”

Cox said the health system is traveling across the state to hear directly from the people who will use the hospital’s services.

“We’ve started out on a tour of listening, and we’ve learned from our past that the best way to build a hospital is to go out and ask questions, not assume that we know everything about what a hospital should look like,” Cox said.

He added that “there’s been in health care for too long what I consider to be a lack of trust,” and that rebuilding that trust begins by “actually ask[ing] people who are going to be using the facility what they would like to see and how they’d like to see it.”

The new pediatric campus will be built on more than 150 acres of open land in Jeffersontown, featuring surgical suites, emergency care, behavioral health services, and research facilities. It is expected to serve children and families from every county in Kentucky.

Among those attending the Bowling Green session was Stephanie Paynter, whose daughter Avery was treated at Norton Children’s after being diagnosed with leukemia in 2021.

“We became patients at Norton Children’s Hospital in August of 2021 when we found out that our daughter Avery had been diagnosed with leukemia,” Paynter said. “During that time of uncertainty, we were just rest assured that we were receiving the quality care that she needed for treatment.”

Paynter said having a hospital close to home will make a major difference for local families. “We have so many families in this area that need that care and that support,” she said. “The great turnout tonight just shows that need for a place like this so that they can receive that specialized care.”

Even Avery, who is now healthy and smiling, shared her own words about her experience. “My mom, we just like. It’s like. Well, I have fun and play together,” she said.

For those unable to attend, Norton Children’s is offering an online survey to collect ideas and feedback from across the region.

For the survey, click here.

Cox said all responses will be reviewed and “translated into design” as plans move forward.

“We came here. We’re asking questions. We’re getting input. We will be back to tell you what we heard,” Cox said. “We promise.”