![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/G23GUEQ4I5A4VBYUTY2A6YPIMI.jpg\")
Boston Children\u2019s Hospital is planning a new $640 million pediatric psychiatric hospital in Brighton, officials announced Wednesday, partly funded with a $100 million gift from Quincy philanthropists Rob and Karen Hale.Courtesy<\/p>\nThe 116-bed building, to be located on the over 10-acre campus of Franciscan Children\u2019s, will house a number of services beyond inpatient psychiatric care. Those offerings include: a partial hospital program and intensive outpatient program, a 14-bedroom acute treatment program, a dental suite, four operating rooms, a pharmacy, outpatient rehabilitation programs, and five outdoor play spaces. The first building is expected to break ground in 2026, and open by 2029, an executive said. <\/p>\n
Boston Children\u2019s Hospital is planning a new $640 million pediatric psychiatric hospital in Brighton, officials announced Wednesday, partly funded with a $100 million gift from Quincy philanthropists Rob and Karen Hale.Courtesy<\/p>\n
The hospital system will relocate inpatient units from Waltham to Brighton, though medical psychiatric beds will remain in Longwood. In all, the project will nearly double Children\u2019s inpatient psychiatric capacity, hospital officials said. <\/p>\n
The Hales\u2019 donation, which includes naming rights to the building, materializes a vision that hospital executives have had for the campus since Children\u2019s announced its acquisition of Franciscan in 2021<\/a>. This project is only the start. <\/p>\n \u201cWe envision, ultimately, over the next 10 to 20 years, continued development of that site,\u201d said Dr. Kevin Churchwell, CEO of Boston Children\u2019s Hospital. He touted the project as both an expansion of clinical services and a place to teach the next generation of pediatric caregivers and clinicians.<\/p>\n Hospital leaders also envision new research opportunities to develop objective measures of when children are improving or worsening as they grapple with mental illness. <\/p>\n There has been a longstanding shortage of mental health care availability for children, which was exacerbated by the pandemic. Pediatric patients were sometimes spending days to weeks \u201cboarding\u201d in emergency rooms as they waited for an inpatient psychiatric bed to open up. At one point in May of 2023, Children\u2019s saw over 90 children in its emergency room in one day needing psychiatric care. <\/p>\n \u201cThat was our pandemic,\u201d Churchwell said. <\/p>\n The hospital and the state have worked to better care for those children, triaging them and sending them to the right kind of care sooner. But still there is a need for more services, hospital officials say. <\/p>\n A state snapshot of surveyed hospitals in November showed there were 48 pediatric patients boarding at hospitals throughout the state. In November 2024, that number ranged from 48 to 71 in weekly reports. <\/p>\n Even as Children\u2019s Hospital has worked to improve access to care, Churchwell said the volume of children needing psychiatric support has remained high. <\/p>\n Dr. Stacy Drury, psychiatrist in chief at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, said suicide is the second-leading cause of death in children. And despite increased recognition of psychiatric illness and treatment, she said, there is often a gap of eight to 12 years before parents recognize symptoms in their children and act to get them care. <\/p>\n \u201cMental health services in Massachusetts are fractured,\u201d said Drury. \u201cThis will allow us to have kids go between different intensities of treatment faster without going to ERs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy building a beautiful campus centering mental wellness, it will be one of the most powerful tools we have against stigma,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Danna Mauch, CEO of the nonprofit Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, welcomed the news of Children\u2019s investment. She said pediatric psychiatric services see a lot of seasonal fluctuation, which can be hard for smaller institutions to manage. Additionally, the size of Children\u2019s operation could help them retain a talented team of clinicians, whereas other programs have struggled to recruit. <\/p>\n Having a mix of inpatient and outpatient care is also key. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat they are doing is the right thing, in terms of what we know about kids and families of their needs and what we know from research literature about what is optimal,\u201d Mauch said. \u201cAnd not everyone can pull that off.\u201d<\/p>\n The donation is the latest from the philanthropic couple, which has given regularly to Boston Children\u2019s in particular for years. <\/p>\n In 2018, the Hales announced two donations totaling $100 million<\/a> to Boston Children\u2019s and Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital. Prior to that, They also gave $5 million in 2013 to establish the Hale Family Center for Families at the hospital. <\/p>\n In 2022, the couple gave away $1 million a week in surprise donations<\/a> to nonprofits across the state, including one to Children\u2019s. <\/p>\n All told, inclusive of this recent donation, the couple has given away $500 million of their wealth, amassed through Rob\u2019s successful Quincy-based company Granite Telecommunications, which manages telecommunication services for large businesses. <\/p>\n In an interview with the Globe, the couple said at least a dozen friends reached out during the pandemic asking the Hales to help connect them with hospital resources for mental health care. As Boston Children\u2019s and Franciscan came together and embarked on a larger project, the couple was keen to become involved. <\/p>\n The couple, who have three children themselves, is particularly loyal to Children\u2019s. Rob recalled touring the hospital in 2011, and seeing a child the size of two tennis balls in the neonatal intensive care unit. He teared up recalling the visit, and the fact that because of the hospital\u2019s care, the child would survive. <\/p>\n \u201cWe thought then, and now, that if you help Children\u2019s Hospital, you\u2019re helping the world,\u201d Rob said. \u201cLike, hey, is it going to help your kid, our kid, some kid in Roxbury, some kids from Western Mass and everywhere? Yes, which is wonderful. But as you learn more about Children\u2019s Hospital, is it going to help kids from Bangladesh and Bangalore and everywhere between? Yes. So it\u2019s the idea that you can help not just your community, but the whole world.\u201d <\/p>\n The project, and the donation, come at a perilous time for health care. Looming federal funding cuts will significantly reduce the money the state receives for Medicaid, the government insurer for the poor and disabled, which insures nearly half of all children in Massachusetts. <\/p>\n \u201cWe do think that America needs help right now, perhaps more so than ever,\u201d Rob said. \u201cAnd, yes, hopefully we can catalyze other leaders (to give).\u201d<\/p>\n Simultaneously to pending cuts, the wealth gap in the US has only grown.<\/p>\n The Hales are aware of their own fortune. Rob ranked 630th on the Forbes list of most wealthy people,<\/a> with a net worth of $6 billion. The couple plans to give away the majority of their wealth. <\/p>\n Karen said giving publicly motivates other people to join a fundraising campaign. The Hale name already dawns the awning of the front of the main Children\u2019s building, and is emblazoned throughout the lobby – the Hale building is an entire section of the hospital, the Hale Family Center for Families offers a place for families to relax between appointments or find hospital resources. <\/p>\n Karen said the couple receives emails from friends and acquaintances who come into the hospital and see their name, thanking them for their support. As they embarked on the biggest donation they\u2019ve made to any institution, it felt good to give more. <\/p>\n \u201cHelping this institution gives you joy,\u201d Rob said. \u201cWhen you sit here, you see the kids coming in, and it tugs at your heartstrings. But you see the kids going out, and you know a bigger percentage of them are going to go out because you\u2019re able to help.\u201d<\/p>\n Jessica Bartlett can be reached at jessica.bartlett@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her @ByJessBartlett<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Karen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/TCMX5OXQOYAYSCD2QZIBDT7ZZA.jpg\")
Karen and Rob Hale pose for photos near The Hale Family Center for Families in Boston Children\u2019s Hospital.Pat Greenhouse\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/THB4MXQEYSWKZQDGQMHZDLJGGA.jpg\")
Boston Children\u2019s Hospital will build a new $640 million pediatric psychiatric hospital on the campus of Franciscan Children\u2019s in Brighton.Pat Greenhouse\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n