Nicklaus Children's Hospital formerly known as Miami Children's Hospital is a hospital for children in South

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The hospital has 289 beds. It is affiliated with the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine,

Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU or, informally, Nova) is a private nonprofit research university with its main campus in Davie, Florida. The university consists of 14 total colleges, centers, and schools offering over 150 programs of study ...

, and St. George's University and is a member of Nicklaus Children's Health System. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to pediatric patients aged 0–21 throughout South Florida. Nicklaus Children's Hospital features the only Level 1 pediatric trauma center in the region, and 1 of 3 in the state. It has 650

attending physician In the United States and Canada, an attending physician (also known as a staff physician or supervising physician) is a physician (usually an M.D. or D.O.) who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic or hospital, in the spec ...

s and over 130 pediatric sub-specialists. Nicklaus Children's Hospital was one of the largest employers in Miami-Dade County in 2014 with over 3,500 employees.

History

In the 1940s, the Miami chapter #33 of

Variety, the Children's Charity Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

was founded. Its goal was to help indigent children. Variety joined forces with a new hospital that was being built outside Coral Gables that was in need of financial assistance. Variety Children's Hospital opened its doors on March 20, 1950, just as the polio epidemic was encompassing the United States. Variety Children's Hospital was soon deemed the southern center for persons suffering from polio. In 1983, the hospital was renamed Miami Children's Hospital. The non-profit, freestanding hospital is internationally recognized for outstanding medical care, research and innovation. In 2015, the hospital was named Nicklaus Children's Hospital after a generous pledge from golf icon Jack Nicklaus and his wife Barbara and their Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation. When Hurricane Katrina first hit

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

in August 2005, Nicklaus Children's Hospital (along with other hospitals) sent helicopters to

Tulane Medical Center The Tulane Medical Center is a hospital located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Tulane Medical Center has centers covering nearly all major specialties of medicine, and is the primary teaching hospital for the Tulane University School of Medicine. ...

, Ochsner, and CHNOLA in order to help evacuate pediatric patients from the hospital.

About

Nicklaus Children's is home to the largest pediatric teaching program in the southeastern United States and has been designated an American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet facility. Nicklaus Children's Hospital is Florida's only freestanding pediatric trauma center.

Graduate medical education

Nicklaus Children's Hospital operates a medical residency program that trains newly graduated physicians ( MD and DO) in the specialty of pediatrics. The program is dually accredited by the

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is the body responsible for accrediting all graduate medical training programs (i.e., internships, residencies, and fellowships, a.k.a. subspecialty programs) for physicians in the ...

and the

American Osteopathic Association The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) is the representative member organization for the more than 176,000 osteopathic medical doctors (D.O.s) and osteopathic medical students in the United States. The AOA is headquartered in Chicago, Illinoi ...

Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation

Nicklaus Children's Hospital Foundation (NCHF), is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization with the sole purpose of supporting Nicklaus Children's Hospital. Following the death of his six-year-old granddaughter Shannon from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

, Ambassador David M. Walters vowed that no child ever need leave South Florida to receive the quality medical care. In 1982, Ambassador Walters founded Miami Children's Health Foundation. Walters’ commitment to children's health and pediatric care for all children, led to the Foundation becoming one of the largest single donors to Miami Children's Hospital. It has also helped fund more than 100

clinical studies Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dieta ...

at Nicklaus Children's Hospital Research Institute. Nicklaus Children's Health Foundation hosts various events each year to raise money, including its Diamond Ball. Throughout the year, Foundation volunteers create positive

grassroots fundraising Grassroots fundraising is a common fundraising method used by political candidates which has grown in popularity with the emergence of the Internet. It has been utilized by US presidential candidates like Howard Dean, Barack Obama, Ron Paul, and mo ...

events to benefit the Foundation and the hospital, such as toy drives, flower sales, carnivals, bike races, walkathons, paper icon sales,

wiffleball Wiffle ball, a team sport developed in 1953 in Fairfield, Connecticut, is a scaled back variation of baseball designed for playing in a confined space. The sport is played using a perforated light-weight plastic ball and a long hollow plastic ...

tournaments, chess tournaments, restaurant openings, penny jars and fountain coins. The Nicklaus Children's Hospital Corporate Golf Invitational is held annually at the Biltmore Golf Course to benefit Nicklaus Children's Hospital Foundation as well as The Club at Creighton Farms.http://www.communitynewspapers.com/coral/2008/071508/images/14.pdf

References

*
Johnson Controls Case Study

U.S. News & World Report

External links

Official Website
for the Nicklaus Children's Hospital {{Authority control Organizations based in Miami Non-profit organizations based in Florida Hospital buildings completed in 1950 Hospitals in Florida 1950 establishments in Florida Pediatric trauma centers Children's hospitals in the United States Hospitals established in 1950