Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Egleston Children’s Hospital, Scottish Rite Hospital, and Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital
Hope & Will: the official mascots and logo of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Geography
Location	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Organisation
Funding	Non-profit hospital
Hospital type	Community, Children's General, Teaching, Specialist
Affiliated university	Emory University School of Medicine
Services
Beds	510 staffed beds amongst three hospitals
History
Founded	1998
Links
Website	http://www.choa.org
Lists

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, a not-for-profit healthcare organization, was formed in 1998 when Egleston Children’s Health Care System and Scottish Rite Children’s Medical Center merged. Both hospitals maintained their original locations, but the merger brought together Egleston’s teaching and research strengths with Scottish Rite’s successful private-practice model. In February 2006 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta assumed responsibility for the management of services at Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital, located in downtown Atlanta at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Children’s, a pediatric-accredited hospital, offers family-centered care while providing specialized medical procedures and supplies, age appropriate play therapy, psychosocial support and a hospital-based school program. A continuing medical education program helps community healthcare providers stay abreast of advances in clinical care. With more than half a million annual patient visits in 2008, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is one of the country’s leading pediatric healthcare providers.

History

While each of the hospitals operated by Children's has a different beginning, all three were founded by people with a deep commitment to the growth and prosperity of the citizens of Atlanta.

Children's at Scottish Rite

33.907799°N 84.354805°W / 33.907799; -84.354805

Main article: Old Scottish Rite Hospital

In 1915 the Scottish Rite Convalescent Home for Crippled Children opened as an 18-bed facility in two small wood-frame cottages in Decatur, GA.The home provided indigent children a place to recover from surgery performed at other hospitals. By 1919 it had grown to a 50-bed facility and changed its name to Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children. In the 1970s the hospital moved to North Atlanta.

Children's at Egleston

33.7941°N 84.3203°W / 33.7941; -84.3203

Main article: Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children

In 1928 Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children opened in downtown Atlanta with the financial support of Thomas R. Egleston Jr. In the first year the 52-bed facility was open, 605 children were treated. In the 1950s Egleston became the pediatric teaching affiliate for the Emory University School of Medicine and relocated to the university’s campus.

Children's at Hughes Spalding

33.7536°N 84.3821°W / 33.7536; -84.3821

Main article: Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital

Further information: Grady Memorial Hospital

In 1952, the Hughes Spalding Pavilion officially opened as a private hospital for black/African-American patients. After numerous transformations, the Hughes Spalding Pavilion shut its doors in 1989. The facilities reopened in 1992 as Hughes Spalding Children’s Hospital—an 82-bed, freestanding facility dedicated to serving Atlanta’s inner-city pediatric population.

Services

The hospitals provide patient families with:

• 24-hour family visitation throughout the hospital, including the Intensive Care Units
• In-hospital playrooms so children can enjoy time with siblings and other children
• In-room sleeping sofas so a parent can always be close by
• Local accommodations through the Mason House and Ronald McDonald houses for extended stays

Multidisciplinary Services

Children’s has been nationally recognized in several pediatric specialties including Cancer, Cardiac, Emergency department, Neonatal intensive care unit, orthopaedics, and Pulmonology.^{[citation needed]} A call center offers a 24-hour nurse advice line, physician referrals and an audio health library.

Breakthroughs

• Transplants performed on the youngest (10 days old) and three smallest (2 to 4 pounds) liver transplant recipients worldwide.
• One of the first centers in the country to perform sentinel lymph node mapping on children to determine if cancer has spread past the point of origin, helping some patients avoid further surgery.
• One of the few centers in the country evaluating a new procedure called capsule endoscopy, where a disposable capsule containing a miniature camera is used to detect and diagnose gastrointestinal disorders in children.
• Among the first in the country to use a biventricular assist device (Bi-VAD) to keep pediatric heart failure patients alive while waiting for a transplant
• Among the first to use a GliaSite catheter to treat aggressive childhood brain tumors
• Developed the first dissolvable midface expander for children with craniofacial abnormalities
• Among a few pediatric hospitals in the country to perform 400 kidney transplants—since 1999 the Kidney Transplant team has had a 100 percent, one-year actuarial survival rate
• Designed a computerized tracking and documentation system for children treated in their emergency department that is now used by hospitals around the country
• One of a few centers in the United States to perform three pediatric heart transplants in 24 hours and multiple ABO-incompatible heart transplants*^{[citation needed]}

Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service

Further information: Tour de Georgia

The Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children’s is a national leader among childhood cancer, hematology, and blood and marrow transplant programs, serving infants to young adults. Recognized as one of the top cancer centers in the country by U.S. News & World Report, the Aflac Cancer Center treats more than 350 new cancer patients each year and follows more than 2,500 patients with sickle cell disease, hemophilia and other blood disorders.

The Children’s Sibley Heart Center

Treating more than 30,000 children every year, the Children’s Sibley Heart Center has garnered widespread national recognition for our innovative treatments, leading-edge research and compassionate care. Ranked as one of the country's top five pediatric cardiac programs by Parents magazine, the Children's Sibley Heart Center provides comprehensive cardiac services for congenital and acquired heart disease from infancy through young adulthood, as well as prenatal diagnostics.

The Children's Neurosciences Program

The Children’s Neurosciences program features a team of pediatric neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists, neurointensivists and neuropsychologists. Each pediatric professional specializes in a particular discipline, such as head trauma, epilepsy, brain and spinal cord tumors and spine care. In 2008, the Children’s Neurosciences program was number one in the country for neurosurgery and inpatient neurology volumes.

Orthopaedics at Children's

Orthopaedics services at Children's, ranked among the top five pediatric programs in the nation by Parents magazine and U.S.News & World Report, includes Orthopaedic Surgery, Pediatric and Adolescent Orthopaedic Hip service, Orthotics and Prosthetics, Scoliosis Screening, Limb Deficiency, Sports Medicine, Fracture Care, Spine Surgery, Brachial Plexus treatment and a Hand and Upper Extremity service. Orthopaedic surgeons at Children’s care for thousands of patients who require specialized medical and surgical treatment for a variety of musculoskeletal diseases, complicated congenital anomalies, and deformities and injuries throughout Georgia, the Southeast and internationally.

Community collaboration

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta collaborates with leaders in the medical community, including the Emory University School of Medicine, Emory Winship Cancer Institute, the Morehouse School of Medicine, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and private-practice physicians. Children's researchers are engaged in more than 600 active studies, including 65 multisite clinical trials, in the community to improve the delivery of pediatric care in 30 specialty areas, with an emphasis on hematology/oncology, blood and marrow transplant and cardiology.

Charity care

Children’s is the largest Medicaid provider in Georgia. In 2008, Children’s provided $103 million in unreimbursed care and treated eight out of 10 pediatric inpatient Medicaid cases in metro Atlanta. Additionally, Children’s serves as a statewide training resource for the prevention of illness, injury and obesity in children. The Children’s Child Protection Center trains law enforcement personnel on child abuse detection and prevention.

Benefit events

The Children's Christmas Parade is held every year on the first Saturday in December (the second Saturday after Thanksgiving) to benefit the hospital. It was previously the opening event for the Festival of Trees, which benefitted the hospital as well.

Awards and recognition

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has been recognized for its outstanding staff and for its visionary physicians in pediatric medicine. Atlanta Business Chronicle ranked it the number one healthcare organization on its list of Atlanta’s A+ Employers. In 2008 Fortune magazine ranked Children’s as number 45 in “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Children’s also was recognized as one of America’s best children’s hospitals by U.S.News & World Report. In 2008 Parents magazine ranked Children’s among the top 10 pediatric hospitals in the country.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Pediatrics
• Healthcare in the United States
• Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children
• Old Scottish Rite Hospital
• Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital

External links

• Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
• New Georgia Encyclopedia: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta