Hospital for Sick Children

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Atrium of the Hospital for Sick Children. Designed by Eberhard Zeidler.

Hospital for Sick Children
Location	Toronto, Canada
Beds	265
Affiliation	University of Toronto
Certification
Speciality	Children's Hospital
Founded	|- |Website |colspan="2"|http://www.sickkids.ca/ |} The Hospital for Sick Children, also known as SickKids, is a world-renowned children's hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. It was founded in 1875, inspired by the example of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, England. The hospital is located on University Avenue, a block south of Queen's Park, near Queen's Park and St. Patrick subways stations. The Hospital for Sick Children from University. Contents 1 Funding 2 History 2.0.1 Infant deaths 3 Contributions to medicine 4 Recent events 5 References 6 External links 7 Bibliography Funding Medical treatments at SickKids are covered by publicly funded health insurance, as is the case in all Canadian hospitals. The hospital foundation maintains a fund, called the Herbie Fund, for patients not covered by Canadian health insurance. The fund was established in 1979 to provide for the treatment of a seven month old patient from Brooklyn, New York named Herbie Quinones. History Victoria Hospital for Sick Children During the spring of 1875 a group of Toronto women led by Elizabeth McMaster rented an 11-room house for $320 a year. They set up six iron cots and "declared open a hospital 'for the admission and treatment of all sick children.'" Their first patient, Maggie, was a scalding victim, and came in on April 3. "In that first year, 44 patients were admitted to the Hospital. Sixty-seven others were treated in outpatient clinics." [#endnote_history] In 1876 the hospital moved to larger facilities. In 1891 the hospital moved from rented premises to a building constructed for it at College and Elizabeth streets where it would remain for sixty years. This old building, known as the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children is now the Toronto area headquarters of Canadian Blood Services. In 1951 the hospital moved to its present University Avenue location. The hospital underwent its last major expansion in 1993 with the construction of a glass-roofed atrium behind the main building. Infant deaths In 1981, tests indicated that as many as 43 babies in the cardiac ward were poisoned by deliberate administration of massive overdoses of the drug digoxin. This prompted an investigation by the Toronto police. Susan Nelles, a nurse scheduled on duty at the time of several of the deaths, was arrested and charged with first degree murder of four of the babies and she was on duty when 23 suspicious deaths occurred. During the same time frame Nelles was alleged to have murdered four babies, a total of 24 babies had died on the cardiac ward in suspiciously similar circumstances, but when she was not on duty. The digoxin deaths stopped after Nelles was arrested, but stricter policies on administrating drugs in the ward were also put in place. Charges against Nelles were thrown out at a preliminary hearing after it was revealed that she was not on duty when one of the four babies died. A Royal Commission (Granger Inquiry) on the deaths concluded at least eight infants had been murdered and suspicion fell on another nurse. As of 2005, only Nelles was charged with a crime involving the baby deaths. Royal Commission Inquiry into Certain Deaths at the Hospital for Sick Children and Related Matters (1984) by Mr. Justice SMG Grange. A book on the case, Death Shift: The Digoxin Murders at Sick Kids was written by Ted Bessland. Contributions to medicine The hospital was an early leader in the fields of food safety and nutrition. In 1908 a Pasteurization facility for milk was established at the hospital. Researchers at the hospital invented the infant cereal, Pablum. The research that led to the discovery of Insulin took place nearby at the University of Toronto and was soon applied at the hospital. Doctor Frederick Banting, one of the researchers, had served his internship at SickKids and went on to become an attending physician there. Recent events Recently, SickKids helped save the life of 10-year-old Djamshid Popal from Afghanistan by treating his heart problem, after the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario diagnosed his illness and referred this patient.[#endnote_popal] References ↑  [Hospital for Sick Children: Sick Kids History] ↑  [CTV News: Healthy Djamshid Popal heads home to Afghanistan] External links [Official site] [Foundation site] [Donate to SickKids!] Bibliography   From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details. Search Titles 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ? E-mail this article to: Personal Message: