Someday we'll all have beds like the new ones at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Not only can some of the new beds talk, they speak 13 languages.

John Spink/jspink@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

'It's Christmas in July, this is answered prayer' Dr. Rhonda Scott said as the new beds arrived on Wednesday. She is the chief nursing officer and senior vice president for patient care services at Grady.

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The new beds have the brains of a computer, and can communicate about 30 programmed questions and commands that help in the care of patients who don't speak the native tongue.

"Do you feel pain?" in French.

"Are you thirsty?" in Russian.

"Please stay in bed," in Vietnamese.

The 604 new beds will replace all the beds at Grady. The bulk are coming in shipments of 52 a day for the next two weeks. The beds are Grady's first major purchase with the $50 million donated in May by the Robert Woodruff Foundation.

The Woodruff donation was key in convincing Grady officials to transfer control of the hospital to a new nonprofit corporation, and that money is needed by the financially ailing and equipment-hungry facility. Woodruff has promised $200 million over four years to replace Grady's antiquated equipment.

Grady is paying $8.3 million for the new beds, which can also weigh a patient and set off an alarm if a person is near to falling off. The deal also includes about 1,400 new chairs and tables for patient rooms.

Grady's old beds are the poster children for the hospital's deteriorating equipment. At 16 years old, they had a reputation for occasionally wedging a patient in the gap between the mattress and the side railing.

"It shows you how far behind we were ... and how much catching up we have to do," said Craig Tindall, chief operating officer at Grady.

Almost half of the first $50 million donation is already approved for purchases, Tindall said. They include $2.5 million for "smart pumps" that automatically dispense medicine to patients through an intravenous tube, and $5.5 million for medical equipment such as scopes that look at the lungs and machines that examine the eye for macular degeneration.

Grady officials said it was important that the first major purchase go toward the care and comfort of the patients. About 100 talking beds will be placed in the intensive care unit.

Future purchases will include improvements to the hospital systems overseeing patient care information and billing.

The new beds will also help patient care providers, said nursing chief Rhonda Scott.

Noting that the average age of the nurses is in the mid-40s, she said the new beds are lighter and easier to roll around. At the push of a button, some fold into a chair's position, raising the head and back while lowering the feet. Some can also be programmed to slowly tilt and shift the mattress to change a patient's position, helping prevent pressure sores.

"They just can't get here fast enough, as far as I'm concerned," Scott said.

The beds, provided by the medical supply company Stryker, are expected to all be in place by the end of October. The company will remove the old beds.

SOME NUMBERS

604: New beds, replacing all the hospital beds.

$8.3 million: The cost of the new beds (includes about 1,400 chairs and tables for patient rooms.)

$50 million: The amount of the donation in May from the Robert Woodruff Foundation

$200 million: The total amount of the Woodruff Foundation donation, to be delivered over four years.