We respectfully request $10 million in FY2026 capital funds from the state of Maryland. We will use the funds to build and outfit a new Innovative Care Center—a hospital designed to support the technologies, therapies and rehabilitative medical care essential to helping children with neurological injuries and disorders regain their lives.
The Challenge: Our Current Inpatient Hospital
Maryland needs a state-of-the-art specialty pediatric rehabilitation hospital with the capacity to help more of Maryland’s children recover from traumatic injuries and life-threatening illnesses, so they don’t just survive, but thrive.
- Current patient rooms are multi-bed and can’t accommodate therapy equipment or families.
- Our inpatient therapy gyms, adjacent to patient rooms, are cramped and have no room for the latest equipment.
- Patients stay for many weeks, often months. Currently, there is very limited space for parents to catch up on work, take a shower or meet privately with hospital staff members.
- Some patient rooms don’t even have a bathroom.
- Patients come from across Maryland and the U.S., and from around the world. There is little room in the current hospital for their belongings or to accommodate patient siblings or other visitors to maintain important family connections.
The Vision:
- Build an Innovative Care Center on the East Baltimore property that the Institute already owns.
- Include the latest in rehabilitation technology, effectively integrated into the hospital’s design and construction.
- Offer private rooms and indoor and outdoor therapy spaces.
- Increase capacity to serve more children, teens and young adults from throughout Maryland and beyond, including those with catastrophic illnesses and injuries. And bring more jobs and revenue to Baltimore and Maryland.
- Specially design patient rooms for individualized control of lighting, sounds and images to accommodate patients’ sensory needs and allow for their best recovery.
- Create a family respite and training center. We are partnering with Ronald McDonald House Charities Maryland to integrate transitional therapy spaces and living quarters into our new hospital to help parents and other caregivers learn the skills they will need to support their children after transitioning from our hospital to their homes and communities.
The Impact:
Increased capacity, enhanced recovery. Children, teens and young adults who receive the best care in spaces designed to optimize their recovery have a greater chance of going on to be productive, participating members of the community.
Productive parents and connected families. Parents and other caregivers will be able to be with their children in our new hospital while having the technology they need to stay connected to their jobs and other family members.