Lurie Children's Hospital

Founded in 1882 as the Maurice Porter Memorial Hospital, nurse and mother Julia Foster Porter established a 8-bed cottage exclusively for children aged 3–13 at the corner of Chicago's Halsted and Belden streets after the death of her 13-year-old son.[10][11]

Two years later in 1884, Porter acquired another property a few blocks away from the original building and built a three-story replacement hospital with 22 beds. In 1896 Porter planned and supported another expansion that increased the hospital's capacity to 50 beds.[12][13]

In 1903 Porter was given a large gift that allowed for the purchase the triangular block of land on which the new Maurice Porter Children's Hospital was built. It remained in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood for 130 years.[14][15]

The hospital underwent further reorganization in 1904, ultimately changing the hospital's name from the Maurice Porter Children's Hospital to Children's Memorial Hospital (CMH).[16][17] A few years later, in 1907 the hospital was gifted an X-ray machine by local philanthropist, John Borland.[18]

The Martha Wilson Memorial Pavilion in 1945.

By 1908, capacity reached 108 beds after the opening of the "Cribside Pavilion," also allowing admission of infants for the first time in the hospital's history.[19] In 1912, CMH was again expanded allowing the hospital to have a total capacity of 175 beds. Generous philanthropic support from the community, including endowments of between $350 and $500 to support a patient bed for 1 year, allowed the hospital to continue providing free care.[20]

In 1926, CMH constructed the new "Martha Wilson Memorial Pavilion", increasing total hospital capacity to 272 beds. During construction of the new pavilion, they also built a residence for nurses and interns on the site of the former 1886 hospital.[21]

In the 1940s, doctors from CMH pioneered one of the earliest pediatric surgery programs in the country. Surgeons Willis J. Potts and Sidney Smith invented a number of surgical tools used to operate on blood vessels and they devised a new surgery to treat blue baby syndrome.[22]

In 1957 it was decided by CMH administration that a new modern hospital building was needed to replace the Maurice Porter and Agnes Wilson pavilions.[23] Three years later, in 1960 demolition was started and ground was broken to make way for the new patient tower, research building, and administrative offices. Two years later, on October 11, 1962 the new patient tower officially opened, with the research tower opening in 1963.[24] In the 1960s Children's Memorial Hospital's department of anesthesia first established a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at CMH with the capacity of 10 beds.[25]

In June 1979, former McDonald's CEO, Ray Kroc made a donation to the hospital that funded the addition of a three-story building named the "Ray A. Kroc Diagnostic and Treatment Center" in his honor.[26] The building included new operating rooms, a new 25-bed emergency department and a radiology suite.[27]

The main tower of what was then known as Children's Memorial Hospital in 2016.

In 1982 CMH added on a four floor expansion to the main hospital bed tower.[24] The four floors were topped with a new rooftop helipad and one of the floors served as the neonatal intensive care unit for the hospital.[28] Also in 1982, CMH successfully separated a pair of conjoined twins during a nine-hour operation. The twins were previously joined at their pelvises.[29][30]

The former site being demolished

In 2006, hospital administration had announced plans to build an entirely new children's hospital closer to downtown Chicago and closer to the campus of their academic affiliate, Northwestern University.[31] In 2008, the hospital administration and CEO were victims of extortion by then-governor Rod Blagojevich for $8 million of state funding in exchange for a $25,000 fundraiser.[32][33][34]

After the move, the old buildings on the former site sat empty for years becoming an "eyesore" that angered the local community.[35] In 2016, demolition on the former Children's Memorial Hospital began to make way for low-rise apartment and retail space.[36][37][38]

On June 9, 2012, the hospital moved from their old campus to its current location in Streeterville, in a coordinated move of 200 children that took over 10 hours.[39] The hospital also changed its name to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.[40] The new name recognized philanthropist Ann Lurie, and her late husband, in honor of the $100 million gift she made in 2007 to help create the new hospital and to enhance its pediatric research initiatives.[41][42] More than just a donation, Ann Lurie secured funding from other philanthropists and gave tours of the hospital.[43] She also served on the board of the hospital. The donation was the largest that the hospital had ever received.[44]

The staff moved 170 patients and their parents, traveling by ambulance and escorted by the Chicago Police Department.[45] The move was designed to allow the hospital to be closer to its academic partner Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, attract and retain the best staff, foster stronger, collaboration with adult researchers and clinicians, improve transition of patients into adult care, and provide even faster transport for critically ill newborns from neighboring Prentice Women's Hospital.[46][47]

Clearing of the land to make way for the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital replacing the old Children's Memorial Hospital.

The rooftop helipad of Lurie Children's Hospital.

The new 1.25-million-square-foot (116-thousand-square-metre)[48] building cost $605 million (excluding land) and was completed in June 2012. The building featured 23 floors and was envisioned by ZGF Architects, Solomon Cordwell Buenz, and Anderson Mikos Architects.[49] Structural engineering services for the new building was provided by Magnusson Klemencic Associates.[50] Construction of the building was managed by a joint venture of Mortenson Construction and Power Construction.[51][52]

The new hospital was set to have a rooftop helipad for the critical transport of pediatric patients, which angered local residents and pilots citing safety and noise concerns of a rooftop helipad. A local resident organization eventually filed a lawsuit to try and stop the helipad, ultimately losing the case.[53]

The unique design of the hospital included many firsts in hospital design that included the emergency room being on the second floor.[54] The hospital included almost double the space of the previous hospital and include much needed amenities including outdoor spaces for patients and families, playrooms, and private patient rooms.[55] Design of the hospital has been industry praised and featured in many prominent publications.[56][57][58] The new hospital also includes multiple terraces with plants and trees to help calm patients and families with a new helipad on top for transport of critically ill pediatric patients.[59]

In October 2014, the hospital inaugurated its first annual Hope and Courage awards, recognizing "leaders who have demonstrated exceptional commitments to improving the health and well-being of children".[60] The 2014 honorees were Jamarielle Ransom-Marks, who runs the Jam's Blood and Bone Marrow Drive, child product safety advocates Linda E. Ginzel and Boaz Keysar, and Senator Richard J. Durbin.[61]

In 2016 Lurie Children's announced their plans for a $51 million expansion that would add 44 pediatric intensive care beds and four neonatal intensive care beds to existing space within the hospital.[62] The hospital cited the need for more intensive care beds due to the fact that they were often at capacity, and previously had to turn away patients.[63]

Pancoe (right) raises the Lurie Children's flag on the summit of Mt Everest in May 2019.

In 2019, Chicago native Alex Pancoe started a fundraiser where he committed to climb Mount Everest to raise funds for the hospital with a goal to raise $1 million.[64] Pancoe was previously treated at Lurie Children's Hospital for a brain tumor when he was in college.[65]

In March 2020, Lurie Children's Hospital announced that they would transfer children from other area-hospitals to Lurie to make way for adult COVID-19 surge capacity at the adult hospitals and allow for the adult hospitals to convert their pediatric beds.[66][67] The next month, in April 2020, Lurie Children's Hospital loaned out many of their ventilators to adult hospitals in the area (including neighboring Northwestern Memorial Hospital) to help deal with the adult ventilator shortage because of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.[68][69]

In May 2020, it was announced that two employees had viewed over 8,000 HIPPA-protected patient records without permission throughout the previous year.[70] The two employees were fired, but a class-action lawsuit was filed against the hospital for the breach of privacy.[71][72] In December 2020, doctors from Lurie Children's pioneered the use of gene replacement therapy to treat a case of a baby with type 1 Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a disease that deteriorates the muscles.[73] In early 2021, management from both Lurie Children's and Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) announced that they would be forming a pediatric alliance to better deliver pediatric care throughout the region.[74] The alliance would officially start on February 1, 2021 and would align both inpatient and outpatient pediatric services at RUMC under the "Lurie Children's umbrella," known as "Lurie Children’s & Rush Advancing Children’s Health."[75][76]

The new hospital building in Streeterville.

As the primary pediatric teaching hospital of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine,[77] the hospital offers a pediatrics residency and fellowship program, maintaining close affiliations with Northwestern. The Feinberg School is ranked 17th for research and 17th for primary care in the 2016–17 U.S. News & World Report rankings of top research-oriented medical schools in the country.[78]

A formal pediatric research program at the hospital dates back to 1982 when the Children's Memorial Research Center was established. Additional floors for research were dedicated in 2004.[79]

When the hospital moved to their new campus in 2012 and changed names, the research institute was renamed to the Lurie Children's Research Institute.[80] In 2014, the Lurie Children's Research Institute received a donation from philanthropist, Stanley Manne. The donation prompted hospital officials to rename the research arm to the Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute to honor Manne.[81] In 2019, the institute was relocated from its original location in Lincoln Park to the current location in the Northwestern University owned, Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center.[82]

The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago has a variety of patient care units to care for pediatric patients aged 0–21 throughout Chicago.[83]

• 48-bed general medical & medical observation units
• 40-bed pediatric intensive care unit (PICU)
• 48-bed pediatric hematology and oncology unit
• 44-bed cardiac care unit
• 64-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)
• 45-bed emergency department
• 23-bed pre and post operative
• 12-bed psychiatric unit (ages 3–17)

In addition to the pediatric patient care units, Lurie Children's Hospital has 21 operating rooms and a sky garden to help relax families at the hospital.[84]

Opened in 2012, about five blocks away from Lurie Children's Hospital is the Ronald McDonald House Near Lurie Children's Hospital (RMCH), one of many in the Chicago region.[85] The house has 70 all-private guest rooms to serve families of pediatric patients aged 21 years or younger in treatment at Lurie Children's, neonates at Prentice Women's, and pediatric rehabilitation patients from Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.[86] The house provides places to sleep, meals, and entertainment to siblings and families for free. Additionally, Lurie Children's hosts a Ronald McDonald family room on site that offers nine sleep rooms, showers, and other amenities to families with children being treated at the hospital.[87]

Before Lurie Children's Hospital moved to their current location, Children's Memorial Hospital featured a 21-room RMCH near their campus. When Lurie Children's moved to the Streeterville neighborhood, a new $40 million, 14-story RMCH was built five blocks away, and nine rooms were built into the Lurie Children's building.[88] The former house near the defunct hospital were later demolished.[89] In August 2018, pharmaceutical company, AbbVie donated $100 million to the nationwide Ronald McDonald House charities, and set aside $3 million for the Chicago Ronald McDonald houses, with AbbVie officials later touring the house.[90] In November 2019 the house unveiled a four-room expansion to increase their capacity and serve more families.[91] In August 2020 the house underwent minor damage after a faction of looters from the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests shattered the glass front door of the house.[92] Additionally, families inside the house were placed on lockdown to ensure their safety.[93]

On the 2007–08 rankings, Children's Memorial Hospital was ranked #25 best children's hospital in the U.S. on the U.S. News & World Report rankings of pediatric hospitals in the United States.[104]

On the 2010–11 rankings, Children's Memorial Hospital was ranked #10 in pediatric cancer, #10 in pediatric gastroenterology, #18 in pediatric cardiology, #10 in pediatric nephrology, #15 in neonatology, #10 in pediatric neurosurgery, #18 in pediatric orthopedics, #19 in pediatric pulmonology, and #5 in pediatric urology on the U.S. News & World Report rankings of pediatric hospitals in the United States.[105][106]

Ranked #6 among only 11 children's hospitals nationwide to qualify for the Honor Roll in the 2016–17 U.S. News & World Report Best Children’s Hospitals rankings.[107]

The hospital was ranked as the #10 best children's hospital in the country on the 2018–19 U.S. News & World Report list of honor roll children's hospitals.[108][109]

As of 2021 Lurie Children's has placed nationally in all 10 ranked pediatric specialties on U.S. News & World Report.[110]