Wake County's largest hospital has won approval from state regulators to expand its rehabilitation facility.

The $2.4 million project will allow WakeMed to renovate existing space and add 14 rehab beds at its flagship campus in Raleigh. That will give WakeMed 98 rehab beds, allowing it to treat more patients and provide more specialized care.

Rehab services include helping patients recover after a stroke, traumatic injury or major surgery. Demand is surging, driven by this region's growing and aging population.

State regulators this week approved WakeMed's proposal and rejected bids from Duke Raleigh Hospital, UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and Johnston Memorial Hospital in Smithfield. At least one of those rival hospitals are likely to appeal, and a legal fight could at least delay when WakeMed starts its project.

North Carolina Children’s Hospital at UNC Hospitals has been ranked in six of 10 U.S. News Media Group’s “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals” categories. The hospital nabbed its second Top 10 ranking in pulmonology -- the only top 10 ranking achieved by any children’s hospital in North Carolina, according to a news release.

N.C. Children’s Hospital ranked 10th in pulmonology, 37th in diabetes and endocrinology, 39th in gastroenterology, 42nd in orthopaedics, 43rd in cardiology and heart surgery, and 44th in neonatology, the release said.

The new rankings recognize the top 50 children’s hospitals in 10 specialties: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, neonatology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology. Seventy-six hospitals are ranked in at least one specialty.

Now in its fifth year, Best Children’s Hospitals pulls together data from a lengthy survey completed by the majority of the 177 hospitals asked to participate for the 2011-12 rankings. The survey asks hundreds of questions about survival rates, nurse staffing, subspecialist availability, and other areas.

Here is a look at today's local headlines:

GREENBRIDGE'S 'DEATH SPIRAL': That's developer Tim Toben's description, not ours. In today's special look at downtown's two condominium projects, we talk with Toben about what went wrong, and what could still go right with the 10-story eco-innovative project in downtown's West End. Read Katelyn Ferral's story here.  

140 WEST FRANKLIN: Peter Cummings says he doesn't want to sound cocky. In this economy he says no one can. But the chairman of Ram Realty Services says his condo project won't face the kind of financial problem s Greenbridge has. One big reason? The company rebid its project after the economy crashed. The net result: a 30 percent cost savings. Read my story here.

UNC HOSPITALS BREAKS GROUND: UNC Hospitals continues its expansion with this week's groundbreaking on a new physician office building and 68-bed hospital in Hillsborough's Waterstone campus. The hospital will boost the town and county economy. Read why Alamance Regional Medical Center isn't so thrilled, here.

KARENS TAKE ROOT: As promised, we continue our look at Orange County's ethnic Karen community from Myanmar today. Katelyn reports how a community garden is helping many return to their agricultural roots, but with a twist to adapt to their new North Carolina growing season. Read the story here.   

Will Lambeth says sometimes you need to take it to the streets. Brooke Hayes wants to know why the Orange County Animal Shelter is closed on Sundays. Carol Ann Zinn says her revised Aydan Court project is so the right project for N.C. 54 (and two readers say no, it isn't).  Lots more, so spend some time with your local paper today, now serving 38,000 homes Wednesdays and Sundays.

And if you've got the radio going like me, you might want to turn on Joe and Terry Graedon -- they're talking about consciousness after clinical death.

Hey, thanks for reading,

Mark   

UNC Hospitals is breaking ground today on its new 68-bed hospital in Hillsborough.

The hospital will have 50 acute-care beds, 18 intensive-care beds, six operating rooms, two procedure rooms and an emergency department. The $200 million project will be completed in two phases. The first will include an outpatient clinic with urgent care, imaging and oncology services will be finished in 2013. The second phase will include all in-patient beds would be completed in 2015.

UNC Hospitals main campus in Chapel Hill has been overcrowded for a decade, with room capacity at 80 to 90 percent most days, said spokeswoman Jennifer James. The new hospital is part of a long-term plan to move less-complicated medical cases off of the main campus and streamline services in Chapel Hill for complicated cases.

Read more on today's groundbreaking online and in Thursday's N&O and Sunday's Chapel Hill News.
 

Today, we added to our public pay databases the salaries of UNC Hospitals officials and employees. We've been collecting pay for most state employees and UNC system employees for years, but discovered recently that the hospitals were not part of those databases.

It's important to collect this data at least annually, because North Carolina's personnel law prevents the release of much beyond current pay and position. As a result, it's very difficult to track pay and position changes over time for the public employees in state and local government.

Our recent three-part series, Keeping Secrets, focuses on some of the troublesome consequences of the state's personnel law, which we found to be among the most secretive in the nation. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Senate leaders are talking about reforms this session to make personnel information such as salary and employment histories public.

You can find the UNC hospital data, which includes roughly 8,650 employees from the CEO to housekeepers, here.

A UNC-Chapel Hill student has died from complications related to the H1N1 flu.

Lillian Chason, a freshman from Rhode Island, died Wednesday afternoon at UNC Hospitals, according to a post from her father, Eric, on Facebook.

"I'm sorry to have to tell everyone that Lillian died this afternoon at 5:20 PM," the post reads in part. "As you all know, she put up an incredible fight and if there was anyway she could have overcome this disease, she would have."

Chason's friends and family had set up the Facebook page as a way of giving regular updates. It chronicled the young woman's ups and downs after contracting the virus in November.

Laura Page, also a UNC-CH freshman, is left to remember the bubbly girl she met at fall convocation.

"She just came and plopped down beside me and we just clicked," said Page, a native of Gastonia. 

Chason planned to study dramatic art, friends said. Though a freshman, she had already scored the lead in a drama department play.

"She was so excited when she was cast," Page recalled.

Chason was also dedicated to exercise. She worked out each day, ate healthy and had considered joining the rowing team, an activity she did in high school, Page said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Lillian’s parents, the Chason family and their friends," UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp said in a prepared statement. "We are so sorry for their loss. Lillian was a special person, and her Carolina family will miss her.”

UNC Hospitals is taking food service in a new direction.

Gone are the days of unappetizing mystery meat and red jello wiggling on that institutional tray. 

Shawn Dolan just can't stomach boring. So the hospital's new executive chef is revamping the hospital menus for patients and visitors alike, emphasizing local ingredients and freshness. 

The changes reflect a slow, steady change the hospital complex has been making for a couple years now in an attempt to boost revenue and create a healthier menu.

One thing you may notice if you're a patient or visitor at one of the UNC hospitals : no fast food.

Read on.

UNC President Emeritus William Friday is home from the hospital today, less than a week after he had heart surgery at UNC Hospitals.

"He's doing well; everything went great," said Virginia Taylor, Friday's special assistant."Now he just has to get his strength back."

Friday had his aortic valve replaced. Surgeon Brett Sheridan did the operation.

Friday now faces at least six weeks of recovery. The surgery came just two months after Friday, 88, had a minor heart attack.

The heart attack prompted Friday to scale back his schedule. He will likely not do much public speaking anymore, Taylor said. But North Carolina People, the UNC-TV show he has taped for 35 years, is still in the front of his mind.

He'll resume those tapings as soon as he's strong enough, Taylor said.

Friday led the university for 30 years, from 1956 to 1986. In retirement, he has kept an office at UNC Chapel Hill and serves as a formal and informal sounding board and dispenser of wisdom for students, administrators and pretty much anyone else who calls on him.

It's a role he will likely never totally relinquish.

"He'll still be doing stuff in the office," Taylor said. "Just not as much."

UNC President Emeritus William Friday is recovering from open heart surgery.

The N&O's Jane Stancill has details here. 

Friday had a minor heart attack in December, after which he pledged to scale back his schedule.