The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center strives to provide both exceptional health care and an exceptional patient and family experience in partnership with patients, families and communities in a diverse and inclusive environment. When we think of “diverse and inclusive,” our minds often go to socioeconomic status, race or religion. But we are also called to build an equitable world for individuals with disabilities. No patient is the exact same as another, and neither are their needs. Recognizing patients as individuals is an essential part of quality care. At the Children’s Center, we need to provide access to care and basic necessities to all who come through our doors — regardless of their diagnosis or abilities.

Recently, our Pediatric Family Advisory Council (PFAC) identified the need for a universal bathroom on campus, so that children over 40 pounds who need to be changed are accommodated. What is a universal bathroom, and why is it important? A universal bathroom accommodates the needs of many without the need for a special designation. It can have grab bars to help one sit and lift, space for a turning radius for those who use a wheelchair or walker, and a changing table that fits an infant or an adult. It can be used by any gender and will accommodate a bathroom helper for those who need assistance. Universal changing tables are essential for inclusion and transform the lives of those with disabilities and complex medical conditions, providing a safe, hygienic space for their needs.

One of our physical therapists, Holly Loosen, who is also a longtime, dedicated PFAC member, has worked with numerous patients and families who have struggled to find an appropriate, accessible place to be changed when they came to the hospital for a clinic visit or therapy. Some families had to take their child back to the car to change them. Some, out of urgency, had to lay their child across the bathroom floor to change them, as it was the only space big enough to accommodate them. Listening to their challenges and empathizing with the situation, Holly rallied the PFAC, which worked with the hospital’s Quality and Safety Leadership and Operations teams to identify a space for a universal bathroom with a changing table to accommodate someone heavier than 40 pounds. After much planning, in fall 2023, the hospital opened its first universal bathroom in The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center on the third floor, just outside the Family Library. We continue to work with the hospital to identify additional spaces to create more universal bathrooms to ensure a more inclusive Children’s Center. 

Diversity and inclusion. Dignity and respect. These are important principles in health care and expand well beyond the bedside. Even to the bathroom! 

Sue Mead is a parent adviser on the staff of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and co-chair of the Pediatric Family Advisory Council. Her daughter was successfully treated for a brain tumor at Johns Hopkins in 2006.