OSF HealthCare Children's Hospital of Illinois known simply as Children's Hospital of Illinois is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care

children's hospital A children's hospital (CH) is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults from birth up to until age 18, and through age 21 and older in the United States. In certain special cases, the ...

located within OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The hospital has 144 pediatric beds. It is affiliated with The

University of Illinois College of Medicine The University of Illinois College of Medicine offers a four-year program leading to the MD degree at four different sites in Illinois: Chicago, Peoria, Illinois, Peoria, Rockford, Illinois, Rockford, and formerly Champaign–Urbana metropolitan ...

, and is a member of OSF HealthCare. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout

Central Illinois Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central third of the state, divided from north to south. Also known as the ''Heart of Illinois'', it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agri ...

. Children's Hospital of Illinois also sometimes treats adults that require pediatric care. Children's Hospital of Illinois features the only pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center in the region, and 1 of 4 in the state.

History

Pediatric specialization in Peoria dates back to 1934, when the new pediatrics floor at St. Francis opened with 35 beds. In 1952, construction started on the St. Francis Children's Hospital, which opened in 1954, and occupied two floors of the new three-story building. The new hospital had 114 pediatric beds. On January 30, 1990, the new Children's Hospital of Illinois was announced and preliminary plans were being made for a new stand-alone building for Children's Hospital. Discussions for the Milestone Project began in 2002, and construction began in 2007. As a result, the new Children's Hospital of Illinois opened in August 2010, featuring a new Level I pediatric and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit (the only one in Central Illinois) and an emergency room. The Milestone Project was the largest expansion in the hospital's history, which added 440,000 square feet and cost $280 million. In 2011, the hospital expanded their congenital heart program, in a merger with local clinics. The hospital has an

American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States. It is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C. The AAP has published hundreds of poli ...

verified Level III NICU, the highest in the state.

Groundbreaking surgery

The hospital made national and international headlines in the healthcare field on April 9, 2013. Surgery was performed on Hannah Warren, a two-year-old toddler, from South Korea (born to a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

father and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n mother) who was born without a

trachea The trachea (: tracheae or tracheas), also known as the windpipe, is a cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs, allowing the passage of air, and so is present in almost all animals' lungs. The trachea extends from ...

(a windpipe), also known as tracheal agenesis, a rare and usually fatal birth defect. She received an artificial trachea that incorporated, "

nanofiber Nanofibers are fibers with diameters in the Nanometre, nanometer range (typically, between 1 nm and 1 μm). Nanofibers can be generated from different polymers and hence have different physical properties and application potentials. Examples ...

mesh coated with Hannah's own bone marrow cells". Because the transplant did not contain cells from another person (donor), it would free Hannah from a "lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs". This was the first bioengineered transplant on a child in the U.S. and the first bioengineered trachea transplant in the world. It was the first

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

procedure of any kind at the Catholic medical center. The major 11-hour surgical procedure was led by Dr.

Paolo Macchiarini Paolo Macchiarini (born 22 August 1958) is a thoracic surgeon and former regenerative medicine researcher who became known for research fraud and manipulative behavior. He was convicted of research-related crimes in Italy and Sweden. Previou ...

of Sweden's's

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally ...

, along with top surgical and medical officials from OSF. Although the trachea implant was successful, she was unable to overcome her other health issues, and her lung function continued to deteriorate. Hannah Warren died three months after surgery, due to complications pertaining to her lung function. Her family stated that "She is a pioneer in stem-cell technology and her impact will reach all corners of our beautiful Earth".

Patient Care Units

CHOI features all private rooms, with sleeping accommodations for parents. Each floor containing a pediatric unit also contains a playroom and a teen room for entertainment. * 40-bed General Pediatrics - General Inpatient Care * 32-bed Pediatric Critical Care Unit (PCCU) - Care For Critical Pediatric Patients * 40-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) - Intensive Care For Neonates * 32-bed Neonatal Intermediate Care Unit - Care For Newborns Not Critical

Community support

Located near the Children's Hospital of Illinois is the Ronald McDonald House of Central Illinois, Peoria. It features 22 rooms to accommodate the families of children (21 years or younger) who are being treated in the hospital.

Rankings

*In 2017–18, the hospital ranked #29 in pediatric urology and #49 in neonatology on the U.S. News & World Report: Best Children's Hospitals rankings. *In 2018–19, CHOI dropped two places and placed #31 in pediatric urology on the U.S. News & World Report. *In 2020-21 the hospital ranked nationally in Pediatric Nephrology on the U.S. News & World Report: Best Children's Hospitals, and the 4th best children's hospital in Illinois after Lurie Children's, Comer Children's, and Advocate Children's.

References

External links

Children's Hospital of Illinois website
{{Authority control Hospital buildings completed in 2010 Teaching hospitals in Illinois Children's hospitals in the United States 1934 establishments in Illinois Hospitals established in 1934 Pediatric trauma centers Hospitals in Illinois