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The story
In June 1883, a meeting of women from Episcopal congregations around Cincinnati established a mission to create a Diocesan Hospital for Children. On November 16, 1883, the "Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church" of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio was incorporated.
The original articles of incorporation included the following statement: "This corporation is not created for profit, but will rely for its establishment and support on the voluntary gifts and contribution of the charitable and humane, and therefore is to have no capital stock."
While these articles of incorporation describe, "The purpose for which the corporation is formed is: 1. To provide medical and surgical aid and nursing for sick, infirm, and disabled children, either in the wards of the Hospital or at their homes."
The hospital's focus on pediatric care was not the long-term intention, but rather was due to limited available funding. The second purpose listed in the articles of incorporation was, "2. To provide (in a department distinct from that devoted to children), so soon as the funds of the corporation shall warrant, medical and surgical aid and nursing for sick and disabled adults, either in the wards of the Hospital or in their homes."
The hospital opened in March 1884 in a rented home in Walnut Hills, a community north of downtown Cincinnati, at the corners of Park Avenue and Kemper Street (now Yale). This building provided for fifteen patients, and within eight months had admitted a total of 38 children. The only patients eligible for admission were aged 1–15, suffering from an acute or chronic disease (or convalescent from such), required medical or surgical treatment. The hospital provided free care, without regard to race, religion, creed or color. The only restriction was that no child with an infectious disease may be admitted.
The small house was inadequate, with only three bedrooms, one small bathroom, and not enough hot water or heat. Generous contributors J. Josiah and Thomas J. Emery came to the rescue. They donated land in Mt. Auburn and built a three-story brick hospital. On November 23, 1887, all patients were transferred from the Walnut Hills location to the new hospital on Mason Street, near The Christ Hospital.
Originally endowed with a fund of $3,506.48 in November 1884, the hospital's endowment had grown to over $85,000 by the turn of the 20th century.
In 1904, a new three-story wing, connecting with the rear of the main building, was built. The addition cost over $20,000 at the time, and included provisions for a large play-room, a chapel and an isolation ward for children with contagious diseases. A new operating room was installed on the top floor of the main hospital at this time, and various other improvements increased the capacity of the hospital at this time to 90 beds.
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The 1920s brought dramatic changes while under the leadership of William Cooper Procter, president of the board of trustees, and Albert Graeme Mitchell, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and physician-in-chief of The Children's Hospital. In 1926, the hospital moved to a new 200-bed facility near the College of Medicine and established an academic affiliation with the college. In 1928, William Cooper Procter donated $2.5 million to build and endow The Children's Hospital Research Foundation, which opened in 1931. The hospital entered the decade of the 1930s as an important center for pediatric patient care, education and research—as it continues to be today.
The hospital has been involved in a variety of medical breakthroughs, most prominently Dr. Albert Sabin's development of the oral polio vaccine, which went into use in the United States in 1960.
From Wikipedia’s article on Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5