A young South Australian cancer patient has been honoured as part of the new Women's and Children's Hospital project – with one of two huge construction tower cranes named after him by his sister.
Eleven-year-old Indi Smart won a 'Name the Crane' competition run by Hospital School SA, choosing her 18-year-old brother Henry as the inspiration for her winning entry.
The competition, which tasked students with finding meaningful names for the new cranes, was set up to add a personal touch to the construction process, involving some of the state's youngest patients and their families.
More than 80 students entered by submitting creative names and colourful drawings, with five finalists selected.
Indi was selected as the winner, after picking the names 'Henry' and 'Mariah' in honour of significant people in her life.
The first crane is named after her brother, Henry, who is a current patient at the Women's and Children's Hospital, receiving care in the Michael Rice Centre for Haematology and Oncology.
Indi's second submission, 'Mariah', was chosen as a combination of the names of Indi's friends and teachers from the Hospital School, as well as her own name.
The two cranes, which stand at 42 metres and 51 metres, will be used to help build the hospital's multi-storey car park.
Time lapse vision of the cranes being assembled onsite, close-ups of the crane names and vision of Indi completing her entry as well as pictures of her finished entry can be found here.
The cranes come to the site as two major construction milestones are completed.
The first concrete pour for the hospital's car park took place in mid-February. While work has also advanced on the main hospital site, with the final building being demolished at the former SAPOL Thebarton Police Barracks location within the last fortnight.
The new Women's and Children's Hospital project will employ around 2,000 workers during peak construction. Throughout January, 97 per cent of the workforce building the new hospital was South Australian.
The next stage of consultation will begin in the coming months, with clinicians and staff asked for feedback on future clinical delivery models. This will set out how services will operate ahead of the transition to the new hospital to meet the future needs of the South Australian community.
The new hospital will have more beds, theatres, and greater emergency capacity, as well as the ability to expand in the future. It will be bigger than the current building, providing 414 overnight beds – 56 more than the existing hospital, as well as an onsite helipad.
It will benefit from a four-bed integrated Intensive Care Unit for women, enabling women requiring high-level care to remain onsite, rather than being transported to the adjacent Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Through the project, 30,000 square metres of Park Lands will be brought back to life – restoring areas that are currently inaccessible and returning them for the community to enjoy.
As put by Chris Picton
This hospital is at the heart of our community, and we are excited to unveil our two tower cranes, which have been so meaningfully named by a special family.
It's been a privilege to have Indi show her brother Henry his very own tower crane and see the progress of this important project.
The whole reason we are building a bigger and better Women's and Children's Hospital is to help people like Henry and his family well into the future.
As put by Women's and Children's Health Network Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Graham
I am incredibly proud to stand here beside one of our families who understand first-hand how important this new hospital is to the women and children of South Australia.
We want to involve our staff, children and families in the build of this hospital at every opportunity and we stand here alongside some remarkably brave, resilient, and creative voices – it is people like this that will ensure we build the best hospital for generations to come.
