Children's Memorial Hospital - Memorial Hospital

Children's Memorial Hospital was a pediatric hospital in Chicago. The main hospital was built in the 1960s and located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the north side of the city. In June 2012 the staff moved 170 patients and their parents, traveling by ambulance and escorted by the Chicago Police and Fire Departments, 3 miles south to the newly built Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Redevelopment of the site has become a hotly contested political issue.

History

Children's Memorial Hospital was founded in 1882 by Julia Foster Porter as the Maurice Porter Memorial Hospital in an 8-bed cottage at the corner of Halsted and Belden streets in Chicago. It was the first hospital in Chicago dedicated to the care of children and pediatrics.

Awards

• U.S News & World Report's 2011 edition of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals” calls out ten clinical programs, with Urology ranking sixth nationally.
• In 2001 Children's Memorial was the first free-standing children's hospital in the country and the first hospital in Illinois to be granted #1 of its three Magnet Recognition Program designations which it received again in 2005 and 2010. Fewer than one percent of hospitals have achieved this accomplishment of maintaining the designation three or more times.
• In 2011, for the 6th straight year Children's Memorial was named one of the best 100 companies by Working Mother magazine.
• The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in America, named the hospital as one of three of the nation’s top performers on key quality measures. Children’s hospitals were ranked in one area â€" children’s asthma.

Future

Children's Memorial has built a new hospital, and the name changed to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.It officially opened in June 2012. Although the name and location changed, most of the staff remained the same and continue to provide state of the art nursing and medical care to their special population of patients. The new hospital is located in the Streeterville area of Chicago at 225 E. Chicago Avenue, adjacent to Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Prentice Women's Hospital. The move was designed to:

• Allow the hospital to be closer to its academic partner, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• Continue to attract and retain the best staff
• Foster stronger collaboration with adult researchers and clinicians
• Improve transition of patients into adult care
• Provide even faster transport for critically ill newborns from Prentice Women’s Hospital

On September 5, 2007, Chicago philanthropist Ann Lurie announced her donation of a record $100 million to help create the new hospital and to enhance its pediatric research initiatives.

References

External links

• Children's Memorial Research Center homepage
• U.S News Best Children's Hospitals 2011-12