CHOP’s Harriet and Ronald Lassin Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit has come a long way since Surgeon-in-Chief C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D., pictured here, opened the one-room, 12-bed unit in 1962. Today the N/IICU can house as many as 83 infants at a time — around 1,200 a year — with a range of lifesaving technologies unimaginable in the 1960s. The unit has cared for 25,000 critically ill infants in its 50-year span.
In April 2012, CHOP’s Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit (SDU), the world’s first birth facility specifically designed for mothers carrying babies with birth defects, celebrated 1,000 deliveries since opening in June 2008. Twins Liam and Angela, pictured with their mother, were the 1,000th SDU delivery.
Alan Cohen, M.D., assumed the reins of the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania 12 years ago, and has guided the department to new heights (including the No. 1 ranking of an academic pediatrics department), reach (expanding affiliations with community hospitals) and breadth (escalating research and adding specialty programs and clinics). Last year he announced his decision to step down as physician-in-chief and chair, and in July 2013 will assume new administrative responsibilities and continue caring for patients with blood disorders in the Division of Hematology.
2012 marked the 25th anniversary of CHOP’s accreditation as a Level 1 Trauma Center. Level 1 accreditation means CHOP is equipped to care for the most severely injured children 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and also focuses on trauma prevention, education and research. CHOP was the first Pediatric Trauma Center in Pennsylvania, a distinction given by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation, and sees at least 1,350 trauma patients a year.
CHOP’s Reach Out and Read Program celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2012. Primary care pediatricians and nurse practitioners incorporate Reach Out and Read’s evidence-based model into pediatric well visits, by helping parents understand the importance of reading together and giving brand-new, age-appropriate books to children 6 months through 5 years of age. Research shows that Reach Out and Read helps better prepare young children for school entry — and life-long learning. Watch our new Reach Out and Read video.
Since its landmark opening 15 years ago, the Connelly Resource Center for Families has offered a quiet retreat, a library for researching illnesses and a welcoming place to learn hands-on care skills. Now, there are as many as 75,000 visits a year to the center. Parents and siblings of patients see the caring Connelly staff as a second family that supports them through difficult times and celebrates treatment milestones with them.
For 30 years, Steven M. Altschuler, M.D., has called CHOP home — first as a GI fellow, then an attending physician, chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and physician-in-chief. Twelve years ago, he was selected to lead Children’s Hospital as its chief executive officer. His deep knowledge of the institution, combined with foresight, have enabled CHOP to grow and prosper, positioning the Hospital to continue to serve the sickest children and influence pediatric healthcare for decades to come.
