BUFFALO, N.Y. — A decade in the making and more than two years of construction—but now, it’s just hours away from a new children's hospital in Buffalo becoming reality.

"On Monday, it kind of hit everyone, I believe, that this is the last week on Byrant Street. Some of our nurses, some of our caregivers have spent years there, they've spent more time there than they have in their own home," said Jody Lomeo, Kaleida Health president and CEO.

The move from Women & Children's Hospital on Bryant Street starts at 7 a.m. Friday.

"Our care teams are going to begin rounding up patients very early in the morning on Friday, so that we're identifying any clinical needs that they have and getting them wrapped up prior to the move, so any medications, any lab tests, any images," said Dr. Stephen Turkovich, Children's chief medical officer.

800 hospital staff, 400 volunteers and 15 ambulances will be on hand to make sure every patient is moved safely. The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Hematology/Oncology patients are the first to be transported, starting at 7 a.m. After they're all situated, there will be a break for a command center debriefing, and then the rest of the patients will be on their way.

"We are not going to rush this. Every patient is going to be planned at a specific time. Each unit in the hospital has a designated nursing leader and a designated physician leader. They are deemed the go/no-go dyad. So their job on move day is to make sure that patients are ready for transport," said Turkovich.

The whole thing could take upward of 24 hours.

"Our transport teams transport critically ill, brand new newborns throughout the eight counties of Western New York to our current location, and so, although this will be a significant number in one day, this is something they do every single day. And they're specially trained for that," said Turkovich.

For the move, there are routes between the hospitals to keep everything flowing. Every contingency has been worked out, including a pull-off spot on the route if an ambulance gets a flat tire.

Each staff member has undergone plenty of training, and there have been 12 mock moves.

"I am completely confident that if somebody were to turn to me today and said ‘we're doing it now,’ that we would be ready to go," said Cassie Church, the clinical move manager.

As of 7 a.m. Friday, the Emergency Department on Bryant Street will be closed and all patients will go to Oishei on Ellicott Street.

"We will have an ambulance staged at Children's Hospital, so if someone gets confused or worried and they land in the wrong spot, we will make sure we get them to the appropriate hospital," said Turkovich.

And while the weather is predicted to be cold for Friday, hospital officials say the only thing that would prevent them from moving is a major snow event, which they don't anticipate happening.

The new parking garage on the Medical Campus will be partially open for move day. Valet will be available at that location, starting Saturday.

For any updates, starting at 5 a.m. Friday, you can follow OHCBuffalo on Twitter.