User:Andrew nyr/sandbox/TCHHistoryRehab

In 1940, Texas Medical Center was first chartered as a set district. Texas Children's Foundation is formed to gain support to build a children's hospital and 6 acres were set aside for the planned hospital. Groundbreaking for the new building was held in May 1951.

As the hospital was being built, hospital leaders established a relationship with the Baylor College of Medicine to allow students to be taught at the new hospital. The original TCH was planned to have 3 floors and 106 beds.

Texas Children's Hospital was first opened on February 1, 1954, creating the first children's hospital in Texas. From the start in 1954, physician-in-chief Russell Blattner, established a new policy that at least one parent may be with a child during a hospital stay, setting a standard for parental visitation now commonly seen at children's hospitals around the world.

In 1962, Texas Children's Hospital partnered with St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital to open up the Texas Heart Institute. Years later Texas Children's Hospital separated from the Texas Heart Institute instead establishing their own pediatric cardiology program.

Over the years, patient numbers at TCH continuously increased the hospital was forced to complete a $149-million expansion in 1989 that constructed two new buildings; the West Tower and the Wallace Tower. In addition to the new buildings, TCH also renovated the main building known as the Abercrombie Building. On September 21, 1971, the patient known as "Bubble Boy," David Vetter was born at the Texas Children's Hospital. Vetter was immediately placed into a sterile "bubble" because of his SCID diagnosis. The boy lived in the hospital throughout his life before being discharged a few years later. Eventually he went to the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute for an experimental stem cell transplant, but died days later after contracting Epstein–Barr from the marrow, which had been undetectable in the pre-transplant screening.

By 1993, the hospital officially had 465 licensed beds.

When Hurricane Katrina first hit New Orleans in August 2005, Texas Children's (along with other hospitals) sent helicopters to Tulane Medical Center, Ochsner, and CHNOLA in order to help evacuate pediatric patients from the hospital. In addition to helicopters, Texas Children's sent multiple fixed wing aircraft, ambulances, doctors, and nurses to Baton Rouge to help with patient care in New Orleans. In the aftermath of the storm, TCH and Baylor College of Medicine also took in pediatric residents from Tulane to continue their education. Texas Children's Hospital was the primary pediatric evacuation hospital during Hurricane Katrina.

In November 2020, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson collaborated with Microsoft and billionaire Bill Gates to donate Xbox Series X consoles to the Texas Children's Hospital along with 19 other children's hospitals throughout the country.


 * Texas Children’s Hospital helps establish the Texas Heart Institute to promote knowledge and treatment of adult and pediatric cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Denton Cooley becomes its surgeon-in-chief and cardiovascular consultant to Texas Children's Hospital.
 * Texas Children’s becomes the first hospital to treat pediatric respiratory failure with home mechanical ventilation, allowing home treatment instead of prolonged years of hospital care.
 * Texas Children’s becomes the first hospital to treat pediatric respiratory failure with home mechanical ventilation, allowing home treatment instead of prolonged years of hospital care.


 * The hospital expands to 331 beds, more than double its original 106.
 * The maximum age for patients is raised from 15 to 19.
 * David, the Bubble Boy, born in 1971 with an immune deficiency, is placed in a specially designed bubble where he plays, sleeps, eats and attends school. Study of his condition leads to significant contributions in the study of immune system disorders.
 * Dr. Ralph Feigin succeeds Dr. Russell Blattner as physician-in-chief in 1977.

1980s - Breakthroughs and Milestones

 * Outpatient visits more than quadruple during the 1980s.
 * Charity care increases from $3.5 million to more than $9 million.
 * Research funding grows from less than $5 million to nearly $15 million.
 * Shannon Pillow is first patient in the world to receive biosynthetic growth hormone.
 * Texas Children’s Hospital is recognized as a leader in treating pediatric HIV.
 * Texas Children’s Emergency Center is the first in the state to have 24-hour coverage by board-certified pediatric emergency physicians.
 * Texas Children's Hospital launches Houston’s first pediatric program for liver transplants.
 * Mark A. Wallace appointed president and chief executive officer of Texas Children's Hospital in 1989.

1990s - Expansion and Pioneering Procedures

 * Texas Children's Hospital completes renovation of the Abercrombie Building (the original hospital) and construction of the Clinical Care Center (now Wallace Tower) and West Tower to become the largest freestanding pediatric hospital in the U.S. It has 456 operating beds and nearly 50 medical and surgical outpatient services.
 * The world's smallest pacemaker is inserted into a transplant child.
 * Texas Children's Hospital performs pioneering operations on conjoined twins and a 3-year-old liver transplant recipient.
 * Significant advances are made in cell and gene therapy transplants.
 * Texas Children's Hospital opens the largest bone marrow transplant unit in Texas.
 * The nation's first pediatric health maintenance organization (HMO) is established by Texas Children's.
 * The Chukwu octuplets, ranging in weight from 11.3 to 28.6 ounces, are admitted to Texas Children's neonatal intensive care unit. All of the seven surviving octuplets go home within 6 months of their birth.

2000s - Expansion Fueled by Vision 2010

 * U.S.News & World Report ranks Texas Children’s Hospital among the nation’s top pediatric hospitals from 2000-2009.
 * Parents magazine ranks Texas Children's Hospital fourth among the nation’s top pediatric hospitals in 2007.
 * Dr. Russell Blattner, founding physician-in-chief of Texas Children's Hospital, dies in 2002.
 * Texas Children's begins an extraordinary $1.5 billion expansion entitled Vision2010. It involves the expansion of the Feigin Center by seven stories, the construction of the Pavilion for Women, the construction of a full-service hospital in West Houston, and the construction of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute.
 * Dr. Ralph Feigin, physician-in-chief, passes away in 2008.
 * The Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative at Texas Children's Hospital (BIPAI) opens a new 21,000 square foot clinical care center in Kampala, Uganda, in 2008. On its opening day, it receives 6,000 transfer patients, making it the world’s largest pediatric HIV/AIDS center.
 * Texas Children's Hospital becomes the first freestanding pediatric hospital to implant two HeartMate II ventricular assist devices in adolescent patients. These devices allow patients to improve their heart health while waiting for a donor heart.
 * The 8-floor, 200,000 sq. ft. expansion of the Feigin Center is completed in 2009. The Feigin Center is Texas Children’s hub of basic science research, housing more than 200 investigators and 600 researchers who lead innovative pediatric research across many disciplines.
 * Dr. Mark W. Kline is appointed chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and physician-in-chief of Texas Children’s Hospital in 2009.
 * Mark Wallace, president and CEO, celebrates 20 years at the helm of Texas Children's Hospital in 2009.

2010s - Leading Pediatric Medicine Locally and Internationally

 * Dr. Charles D. Fraser is named Surgeon-in-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital in 2010.
 * Dr. Michael A. Belfort is appointed obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief of Texas Children’s Hospital and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine in 2010.
 * Texas Children’s Hospital opens the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI), the world’s first basic research institute dedicated to childhood neurological diseases in 2010.
 * The new Texas Children’s West Campus outpatient clinic building opens at I-10 and Barker Cypress in 2010; outpatient services become available in spring 2011.
 * Texas Children’s Hospital becomes first hospital in the world to use real-time MRI-guided thermal imaging and laser technology to destroy lesions in the brain that cause epilepsy and uncontrollable seizures.
 * The Berlin Heart EXCOR Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in children in 2011. Texas Children’s Hospital was lead center in a 17-hospital national Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) study on the Berlin Heart, with surgeon in chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser serving as principal investigator for the 36-month trial.
 * Texas Children's Pavilion for Women, which provides women, mothers and babies with a full continuum of high-quality, expert health care, opens its doors in 2011.
 * Texas Children’s electronic medical record system, Epic, reaches system-wide completion in March 2012 with the opening of Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. The two year, $96 million effort to bring Texas Children’s 100% online enhances data collection, improves safety and quality care measures and gives patients secure online access to their medical records.
 * Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women delivers a set of sextuplets on April 23, 2012. Dubbed “The Perkins Pack,” the 3 boys and 3 girls are the first complete set of sextuplets to survive in the Houston area.
 * In FY2013, Texas Children's has 3.2 million patient encounters and performs 26,000 surgeries.
 * Dr. Dean B. Andropoulos and James Versalovic named Anesthesiologist-in-Chief and Pathologist-in-Chief at Texas Children's hospital in 2014.
 * In 2016, The Woodlands Outpatient Building, a six-floor, 209,973-square-foot facility, opens to serve children and families in The Woodlands, Kingwood, Spring, Conroe and surrounding communities.
 * In 2017, Texas Children’s opens its second community hospital in The Woodlands, the only dedicated pediatric hospital north of Houston, bringing expert pediatric care closer to home for children and families.
 * The Clinical Care Tower at Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus is renamed the Mark A. Wallace Tower in honor of Texas Children’s long-time President and CEO in 2017.
 * Dr. Larry H. Hollier Jr. is named Surgeon-in-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital in 2018.
 * In 2018, Texas Children’s expands to Austin to reach the city’s pediatric population of half a million. Our new Welcome Center opens to create brand awareness for Texas Children’s in the Austin community.
 * Texas Children’s Pediatrics opens its first primary care site in Austin, marking another milestone in Texas Children’s path toward creating a pediatric care network for children and families in Austin in 2018.
 * In 2018, Texas Children’s marks the beginning of an exciting chapter in its history by opening Texas Children’s Urgent Care Westgate — the first Texas Children’s urgent care location in Austin.
 * Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower — our new home for heart, intensive care and surgery — opens at Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus to care for our most critically ill patients in 2018.
 * Dr. Thierry A.G.M. Huisman is named Radiologist-in-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital in 2018.