Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston

The Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Children's) Egleston Hospital is a nationally ranked, freestanding, 330-bed, pediatric acute care children's hospital located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is affiliated with the Emory University School of Medicine and one of three hospitals in the Children's system. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens and young adults age 0–21 throughout the Atlanta region. Egleston hospital has been verified as a level I pediatric trauma center since 2019 by the Verification Review Committee (VRC), an ad-hoc committee of the Committee on Trauma (COT) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). It is the first and only Level I Pediatric Trauma Center in Georgia. Its regional pediatric intensive-care unit and neonatal intensive care units serve the region. The hospital also has a rooftop helipad for critical pediatric transport.

In 2022, Egleston hospital managed 337,569 patient visits and 81,987 Emergency Department visits.

After construction of the Children's Arthur M. Blank Hospital is complete Fall 2024, Children's will no longer operate a facility at Egleston. The long-term purpose of Egleston's campus will be determined during the planning process over the next several years.

History
In 1928, Henrietta Egleston Hospital for Children opened in the Old Fourth Ward east of downtown Atlanta at 640 Forrest Avenue (now Ralph McGill Blvd.). It opened with the financial support of Thomas R. Egleston Jr. In the first year, the 52-bed facility was open, 605 children were treated. The original hospital site was on the north side of Forrest Avenue (now Ralph McGill Blvd.) on the east side of Fortune St. (today Wabash Ave.). Today the AMLI Parkside apartments occupy the site.

The hospital contained the original Dolly Blalock Black Memorial Garden, dedicated to Elizabeth "Dolly" Blalock, wife of Eugene R. Black, Sr., president of the World Bank.

In the 1950s, Egleston became the pediatric teaching hospital affiliate for the Emory University School of Medicine, and in 1959 relocated to the university's campus. A prominent local and women's rights activist Ella Lillian Wall Van Leer played an important role at the hospital as its trustee, President of the Auxiliary department and Director of Volunteers until 1976.

This hospital saw further expansions through the years, including the opening of the George and Irene Woodruff Pavilion Oct. 14, 1981, and the addition of 70 beds in 1993. The 1990s saw major growth, with the establishment of the Center for Child Advocacy in 1992, the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center in 1995 and the Sibley Heart Center in 1997.

The hospital is now a part of Children's, which formed in 1998 when Egleston Children's Health Care System and Scottish Rite Medical Center came together, becoming one of the largest pediatric systems in the United States.



The City of Atlanta annexed the hospital site effective January 1, 2018. The health system had requested that the Atlanta city government annex the area including Egleston Hospital. Previously the headquarters were in an unincorporated area, statistically counted in the Druid Hills census-designated place.

Awards
In June 2023, Egleston achieved Magnet recognition again for its continued dedication to nursing excellence. Conferred by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), the world's largest and most prestigious nurse credentialing organization, Magnet Recognition Program designation designation is the highest international distinction a healthcare organization can receive for nursing care. After receiving Egleston's first designation in 2018, Children's understood the importance of pursuing Magnet recognition again. To achieve its second Magnet recognition, Egleston was required to demonstrate an exceptional practice environment for nurses and meet high standards for patient experience. This lengthy process included an electronic application, written patient care documentation, an on-site visit in May 2023 and an official review by the Commission on Magnet Recognition.

In October 2023, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) recently verified the Egleston Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as a Level IV Neonatal Center—the first to receive this designation in the state of Georgia. This three-year recognition distinguishes the Egleston NICU for demonstrating the highest levels of quality care and collaboration across specialties to meet the needs of premature and critically ill newborns.