Home & Away

Children’s hospital executive promotes good health at work, at home and in the community

After 16 years at Nationwide Children’s Hospital

– the last six of them overseeing a colossal expansion project – Patricia McClimon has put a great deal of work into promoting and promulgating good health.

It’s time-consuming work, as is raising three sons. But McClimon still makes it a priority to keep her own health in check.

McClimon is senior vice president for strategic and facilities planning at the hospital. She lives in New Albany with her husband, Matt, and their sons Drew, 11, Zach, 9, and Will, 3.

She started at the hospital shortly after earning her master’s degree in health administration from The Ohio State University. After 16 years, the closest thing to an average day for McClimon includes working with physicians and clinical staff to develop planning ideas; walking the building to ensure patients, their families and staff are having the most comfortable experience possible; and reading data and analyses on how to provide optimal care.

She’s also been giving a lot of tours lately, and for good reason. One of McClimon’s major duties at the hospital has been overseeing its massive, $810 million campus expansion, which opened in June.

The expansion – which includes a new 12-story, 750,000-square-foot main hospital building, as well as a third research facility, underground parking and an LEED-certified energy plant –began in 2006, when McClimon and other hospital staffers visited children’s hospitals throughout the country that had recently undergone renovations to get ideas.

McClimon stayed involved in the process as tentative plans were drawn up and mock-up hospital rooms were built in a former Kroger store nearby to gather feedback.

Among the more notable aspects of the expansion is the nature theme seen throughout the 12-story inpatient tower, which is the cornerstone of the expansion project. Birds, butterflies and other nature scenes make a more calming environment to promote healing and reduce stress.

“That’s what we try to do here at the hospital – create hope and optimism,” McClimon says.

The project has also contributed to the health of the neighborhood surrounding the hospital. Prior to the project’s beginning, the corner of Parsons and Livingston avenues where the hospital is located sported narrow streets, an empty strip mall, a parking lot, a used car lot and a fast food restaurant. Now, the streets have been improved and power lines have been buried, and the new hospital buildings and a park stand at the corner instead.

“It was a declining urban neighborhood, and through our investment – and private investment and investment by the city of Columbus – it is now a vibrant and safe park area,” says McClimon.

McClimon is involved in many other aspects of the hospital’s strategic planning. For instance, she has helped the hospital improve its support of community wellness with programs such as a collaboration with Columbus City Schools to reduce obesity and promote wellness in children.

McClimon is also a facilitator for Healthy New Albany, promoting health in her hometown as well as in the greater Columbus area. She helped the organization develop a strategic plan and facilitates its monthly board meetings.

Despite the demands her job makes on her time, McClimon makes sure her own health is a priority. Working at a pediatric hospital, she sees all sorts of health problems every day, and it makes her feel blessed to have a healthy family.

“You can’t take that for granted,” McClimon says.

To stay in shape, she wakes up early each morning so she can start her workout at 5:30 a.m. – either running on one of New Albany’s many pedestrian trails or lifting weights via the Body Pump program at New Albany Country Club.

The community is very conducive to fitness, McClimon says. Even on a day when she has to bump up her morning run to 5 a.m. to accommodate an early meeting, the paths are populated and feel safe.

“At 5:00 this morning, I saw three other runners,” McClimon says.

She’s helped along in her efforts by her three active sons.

“My husband and I spend a fair amount of time doing active things with the children – sports, swimming, hiking, that sort of thing,” she says.

The hospital’s new 12-story inpatient tower and the outpatient building in which McClimon’s office is located on the seventh floor provide another opportunity for daily fitness.

“I always take the stairs,” she says.

McClimon describes her approach to nutrition as “everything in moderation,” a philosophy she and her husband work to pass on to their children as well. She tries to focus on local and seasonal foods when she can – for instance, she recently brought items from the New Albany Farmers Market to her book club.

Garth Bishop is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at laurand@city scenemediagroup.com.

By Lisa Aurand on