Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

On November 23, 1855 the following small advertisement appeared in the Philadelphia Public Ledger:[13]

The Children's Hospital—located on Blight Street, running from Pine to Lombard, below Broad, is now open for the reception of Patients. Children suffering from Acute Diseases and Accidents will be received free of charge. A dispensary, for sick children, is also attached to the Hospital and will be open at the same place every day, (Sundays excepted from 11 to 12 o'clock, when advice and medicine will be given free of charge.)

The first location of the original Children's Hospital was a small building on Blight Street (now Watts St). The hospital consisted of 12 beds and a dispensary. That year they recorded 67 inpatient admissions and 306 outpatient visits.[13]

Children's Hospital was relocated to 22nd Street between Locust and Walnut Sts after the American Civil War. This hospital consisted of 35 beds and a dispensary.

• Surgery was being performed by 1870.
• The first resident physician was appointed in 1873
• Formal medical teaching in medical and surgical clinics began in 1877.
• A long-term care ("convalescent") facility was opened as a County Branch near Overbrook.
• Capacity was increased to 94 beds by 1892.
• A nursing school, the Ingersoll Training School, was opened in 1894.
• In 1899 the County Branch convalescent facility was closed and the program and patients transferred to the Seashore House near Atlantic City, New Jersey.[14]
• In 1900 the Catherwood Milk Laboratory was established.
• In 1914 the first Department for the Prevention of Disease in the nation was established.[15]

Construction adjacent to the 2nd hospital was begun in 1913 and the first unit was opened in 1916 extending toward 18th and Bainbridge Sts. In 1919 the hospital became affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The affiliation became steadily closer over the next 17 years, with the Children's Hospital becoming identical to the pediatric department of the school of medicine, with most of the attending physicians appointed jointly to both institutions.

• In 1925 the hospital became affiliated with the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic.
• Whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine was first developed.
• The first formal allocation of funds to research was recorded in 1937.
• The first closed incubator for newborns was used.
• The nursing school was disbanded in 1945 and converted into an affiliate training center.
• A six-story research building next to the hospital was dedicated in 1954.
• In 1962 under Dr. C. Everett Koop (later to be Surgeon General), the first neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in the nation was opened, along with a new neonatal surgical unit.[16]
• In 1965 the first home care program for children was established.
• A Clinical Research Center under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health was opened in 1965.

Construction of the new hospital at a new site on the west side of the Schuylkill River at 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, adjacent to the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, was begun in 1969 and the first building was opened in 1974. This present Children's Hospital complex occupies part of the site of the old Philadelphia General Hospital and Blockley Almshouse.

• A helicopter transport system for critically ill and injured children was inaugurated in 1973.
• CHOP celebrated its 150th anniversary on November 18, 2005.

Milestones and advances in pediatric care pioneered at CHOP include the first formal medical training in pediatrics, techniques for the correction of congenital heart malformations, incubators for newborn intensive care, home ventilator care, and vaccine development.

Colket Translational Research Building, under construction in 2009

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is in Philadelphia's University City neighborhood, and since 2001 has been undergoing a $1.5 billion expansion that has doubled the hospital's size, while also building more than one million square feet of new research and outpatient facilities on a large, eight acre site south of the main hospital on Civic Center Boulevard.[17] The South Campus expansion includes the eleven-story Colket Translational Research Building, which will provide lab space for the Center for Childhood Cancer Research and the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics.[18] The new South Campus will also include an underground parking garage and an ambulatory care building with outpatient services.[19]

This South Campus expansion adjoins the University of Pennsylvania Health System's construction of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine and Roberts Proton Therapy Center.

On July 1, 2015, Madeline Bell, previously CHOP's president and chief operating officer, became president and chief executive officer. She succeeded Steven M. Altschuler, MD, who retired after 15 years as CEO. The Board of Trustees of Children's Hospital made the announcement on May 14.[20]

In October 2015, the expansion of the Brandywine Valley Specialty Care and Ambulatory Surgery Center was opened. This is a 44,000 square foot expansion.[21]

In 2015, CHOP appointed Madeline Bell as CEO, succeeding Steven. M. Altschuler MD. Previously, she was Chief Operating Officer of CHOP.[22]

The Roberts Center for Pediatric Research is at the right

The hospital has developed an expansion plan that includes four buildings along Schuylkill Avenue, on the east side of the Schuylkill River.[24] The first building, a 375 ft (114 m) tower called the Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, or the CHOP Research Tower, was built between 2015 and 2017 on the 700 block of Schuylkill Avenue, with an address of 2716 South Street.[25][26]

Children's Seashore House, current location

Children's Seashore House was founded in 1872 near Atlantic City, New Jersey as a place for children to receive rehabilitation treatment.[27] In 1990 the hospital moved to its current location next to CHOP and in 1998 it was acquired by CHOP. As of 1998, the hospital had 45 beds.[28] It currently provides inpatient and outpatient care for children with developmental disabilities and chronic illnesses.[29]

In 2015, The Buerger Center for Advanced Pediatric Care opened and moved most outpatient services into the building.The addition is a 12-story, 700,000 square foot building with a five-story, 1500-space underground parking garage directly attached.[30] Composed of stacked forms and a selection of primary colors, the twelve-story building and six-story wing offer interactive setting for treatment.

The mission of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Media Programs and Seacrest Studios is building broadcast media centers, named Seacrest Studios, within the hospital to help in the healing process. Patients have access to radio, television and new media. Seacrest Studios opened in July 2011 and is the second media center to open after the completion of the first center November 2010 at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in Georgia.[32] Seacrest chose Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia because it is a center of pediatric research and is focused on developing programs which enrich each patient's emotional well-being.[33]

Seacrest Studios/ Galaxy 51 programming can be accessed on Channel 51 of any Children's Hospital of Philadelphia television. Programming allows children and staff to WATCH, LISTEN, and PLAY from the hospital bedside or LIVE in Seacrest Studios multimedia studio (formerly The Voice) located in the Hospital’s Colket Atrium. Patients are also encouraged to work with the Galaxy 51 team to create and produce their very own projects from video diaries to music videos.

Galaxy 51 programming on channel 51 is: Therapeutic: provides opportunities for children to express themselves and supports children’s coping with the healthcare experience. Educational: provides opportunities for children to learn about the hospital environment as well as other topics. Interactive: gives children the chance to become involved in various aspects of production and programming, whether or not they are able to leave their beds/rooms. Entertaining: offers programs that serve as an enjoyable distraction from the routine aspects of hospitalization. The Voice is broadcasting at the state of the art radio studio that is located in the lobby of the main hospital at 3401 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104. The Media Programs Manager is Kris Schrader. Daily broadcasts are done in studio. Interactive games are also broadcast and this gives a chance for patients to come down to the studio and participate. Patients who cannot leave their rooms are able to call down to the studio as well. The Voice involves students from local colleges and universities to participate in making broadcasts.

Seacrest Studios gives children the opportunity to conduct interviews with celebrities and watch live performances. The following Celebrities were guests of Seacrest Studios:

Selena Gomez (who was also named as ambassador to the foundation in April 2012),[34] CeeLo Green, Carrie Underwood, The Fray, Adam Levine, 5 Seconds of Summer, Taylor Swift, Julianne Hough, Jason Derulo, the cast of The Maze, Hot Chelle Rae, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Florida Georgia Line, R5, Austin Mahone and Rixton

The program was started by the Ryan Seacrest Foundation (RSF), a non-profit organization launched in 2010 by Ryan Seacrest and his family dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for seriously ill and injured children through unique programs that utilize multimedia and interactive platforms. RSF is building broadcast media centers within hospitals for children to explore the creative realms of radio, television and new media.

CHOP has an Adolescent & Young Adult Oncology Program for adolescents and young adults up to 30 to have treatment for their cancers.[35]

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has consistently been ranked among the best hospitals for children by U.S. News & World Report.[36][37] A detailed ranking of pediatric facilities in the United States is printed in the publication's first stand-alone "America's Best Children's Hospitals" issue.[38]

In 2020, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was ranked #2 nationwide and #1 in Pennsylvania in the U.S. News & World Report: Best Children's Hospital Ratings.[39]

In 2021 the hospital was ranked as the #2 best children's hospital in the United States by U.S. News and World Report on the publications' honor roll list.[40]