Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Nationwide Children’s Hospital is a primary pediatric hospital in Columbus, Ohio, with more than 1,280 medical staff members and over 10,000 total employees.[1] In recent years, the hospital has been ranked as one of America’s Best Children’s Hospitals by US News & World Report.[2] It is also the pediatric teaching hospital for The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Children’s Hospital of Columbus opened in 1892 with 9 patient beds, which quickly grew to 15 beds. In 1923, the cornerstone for the new hospital was laid, and in 1924, the new hospital opened accommodating 75 patients with the ability to expand to 150 beds immediately (eventually going to 300 beds). It was in 1931 that the hospital began taking private patients for $4 per week. In 1954, construction began on the Sellers Wing, which was a physical therapy building used to house polio patients. In 1965, the federal government granted money to be used for the establishment of Children & Youth (C&Y) Clinics throughout the city. These clinics grew into the Close To Home network of clinics since government funding decreased and the hospital continued to privately support them. The first successful kidney transplant in central Ohio was performed at Children’s in 1966, on an 11-year-old boy. Also in 1966, a new infant intensive care service (NICU) opened, specializing in the care of the seriously ill infants. It was operated independently of the regular intensive care unit (ICU). In 1999, Children’s and OhioHealth announced a relationship to operate the Neonatal Special and Intensive Care units at OhioHealth Central Ohio hospitals, which are: Doctors Hospital West, Grant Medical Center and Riverside Methodist Hospital. In 2003, Children’s began an $80 million, 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m2) clinical expansion and started renovating 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of existing space. Children’s became the first freestanding children’s hospital in Ohio to receive “Magnet Recognition” in 2004, which is the highest honor for excellence in nursing. In 2005, the hospital performed its first lung transplant on a 23-year-old cystic fibrosis (CF) patient.[7] In 2006, a “Domino” heart and double lung transplant was performed, involving the world’s youngest living heart donor. The transplant was performed successfully, by the Children’s Hospital Heart Center team led by Dr. Mark Galantowicz.[8]

In 2007, the hospital received a gift of $50 million from the Nationwide Foundation of the Nationwide Insurance Company of Columbus, Ohio, and was accordingly renamed Nationwide Children’s Hospital.[9]