Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (formerly Children’s Memorial Hospital) in Chicago, Illinois is a pediatric specialty hospital. Located in the downtown Streeterville neighborhood, the hospital has more than 1,200 [1] physicians on its medical staff and 4,000 employees. Lurie Children’s offers 70 pediatric sub-specialties and has physicians at 14 other city and suburban locations. Based on volume, it is ranked #1 regionally in all pediatric specialties[2] and is accredited by the Joint Commission (formerly known as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations). Physicians and staff provided highly specialized care for more than 148,000 children in 2011, from every U.S. state and 35 countries.[3]

Founded in 1882 as the Maurice Porter Memorial Hospital, nurse and mother Julia Foster Porter established a 4-bed cottage at the corner of Chicago’s Halsted and Belden streets after the death of her 13-year-old son. It was the first hospital in Chicago focused solely on the care of children and pediatrics.[4] The hospital expanded, was renamed Children’s Memorial Hospital in 1904, and moved to the corner of Fullerton and Lincoln avenues. It remained in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood for 130 years.

The main hospital was built in the 1960s and located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the north side of the city (41°55′28″N 87°38′51″W).

The former hospital site in 2016
On June 9, 2012, the hospital moved to its current location, 225 East Chicago Avenue, and changed its name to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The new name recognized philanthropist Ann Lurie, and her late husband, in honor of the $100 million gift she made in 2007 to help create the new hospital and to enhance its pediatric research initiatives. The staff moved 170 patients and their parents, traveling by ambulance and escorted by the Chicago Police Department and Chicago Fire Department. The move was designed to:[citation needed]

Allow the hospital to be closer to its academic partner, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Continue to attract and retain the best staff
Foster stronger collaboration with adult researchers and clinicians
Improve transition of patients into adult care
Provide even faster transport for critically ill newborns from Prentice Women’s Hospital
In October 2014, the hospital inaugurated its first annual Hope and Courage awards, recognizing “leaders who have demonstrated exceptional commitments to improving the health and well-being of children”.[5] The 2014 honorees were Jamarielle Ransom-Marks, who runs the Jam’s Blood and Bone Marrow Drive, child product safety advocates Linda E. Ginzel and Boaz Keysar, and Senator Richard J. Durbin.