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The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the oldest hospital in the United States dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, strives to be the world leader in the advancement of healthcare for children by integrating excellent patient care, innovative research and quality professional education into all of its programs.
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The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the first pediatric hospital in the United States, is one of the top-ranked children's hospitals in the world. In 2005, we celebrated our 150th anniversary.
Research
Children's Hospital is committed to researching and finding cures for chronic and fatal pediatric illnesses. Our physician-researchers draw on the latest available information about the human genome to customize therapies to variations in genetic makeup. Oncologists are working on therapeutic vaccines for children that teach patients' healthy cells to recognize and fight cancer. Other researchers are investigating prenatal stem-cell transplants to improve treatments for a variety of diseases including muscular dystrophy, leukemia and sickle cell disease.
Family-centered care
The Hospital was one of the first in the United States to recognize the importance of treating all aspects of the patient, including emotional well-being and that of the child's family. We work to educate families as partners in their children's care, and we rely on their feedback to improve our services. The Child Life, Education and Creative Arts Therapy Department is designed to nurture the hearts and minds of patients and families while caregivers treat the body.
Education and advocacy
Children's Hospital healthcare providers also are aware that preventing disease is at least as important as treating illnesses. Current advocacy programs include those to prevent HIV and asthma, as well as early intervention to best prepare children for school and to help chronically ill young adults live on their own.
Since its founding in 1855, Children's Hospital has fostered some of the nation's pioneers in pediatric medicine and continues to be the premier training ground for future pediatric leaders.
We have been the first to contribute many innovations to the field. Our commitment to improving the health of all children has remained constant over 150 years. We have had major accomplishments and have significant programs in a variety of areas including cardiac, genetic and cancer research; and fetal surgery, neonatology and automobile safety research. The Hospital has pioneered several vaccines against childhood illness, and our scientists continue to investigate new vaccines to fight deadly diseases.
Like our founders, physicians and staff today at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia share the common goal to make sick children well and to secure a healthy future for families.
History
When The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855, most childhood illnesses were treated at home because infants and children admitted to adult hospitals often died due to cross-infection or neglect.
After visiting the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London, Francis West Lewis, MD, decided to create a hospital in the United States dedicated to finding cures and treating illnesses and injuries specific to children. He persuaded two friends, T. Hewson Bache, MD, and R.A.F. Penrose, MD, to join him in the venture. In the Hospital's first year, it had 12 beds and a dispensary, and the physicians served 67 inpatients and 306 clinic patients.
The Hospital has moved three times since first opening its doors on what is now Watts Street in downtown Philadelphia. On June 23, 1974, the Hospital moved all its equipment and patients to its current location at 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard in West Philadelphia.
Over the years, the Hospital added the Joseph Stokes Jr. Research Institute, one of the largest pediatric research facilities in the United States, and acquired Children's Seashore House, a comprehensive pediatric rehabilitation center. The Hospital also has built what now is the largest pediatric healthcare network in the United States, with nearly 50 sites that treat children throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
From 1855 on, Children's Hospital has remained true to our founders' vision, nurturing some of the nation's pioneers and innovators in pediatric medicine and contributing a number of firsts to the field.
Today, the Hospital has 430 beds and had more than 1 million outpatient and inpatient visits last year.
