Our History & Innovations

St. Christopher's Hospital for Children was founded in 1875, when it opened as a one-room dispensary for the mill workers' children of the Kensington area of Philadelphia. Today St. Christopher's provides cutting-edge medical services to children across the Greater Philadelphia area and has been at the forefront of many areas of pediatric medicine.

The 189-bed Hospital provides routine pediatric care as well as care for many children with complex conditions. It is also a regional center for extremely specialized care. In order to make first-class pediatric care easily accessible, St. Christopher's has opened four pediatric primary care practices, five multispecialty care centers and the region's first pediatric urgent care center in the Philadelphia suburbs and throughout the Delaware Valley.

Through affiliations with Drexel University College of Medicine and Temple University School of Medicine, St. Christopher's Hospital is a premier academic medical center that helps train the next generation of pediatricians.

In 2009, St. Christopher's achieved Magnet® designation, which is one of the nation's highest forms of recognition for nursing excellence, and the hospital and its medical professionals have received numerous awards for medical excellence, research and innovative practices in patient care.

Some of St. Christopher's accomplishments include:

2012
• Tenet Healthcare and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children announced a $110 million expansion project that includes construction of a new critical care tower and the Center for the Urban Child
• Grand opening of the region's first Pediatric Urgent Care Center's in Jenkintown, Pa.
• Hospital receives the Patient Safety Innovation Award from the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania

2011
• Establishment of one of the region's first Medical Legal Partnerships
• Patient Safety and Medical Education Programs recognized by Philadelphia Business Journal Healthcare Innovation Awards competition
• St. Christopher's Foundation for Children and St. Christopher's Hospital launch Farm to Families and FreshRX Programs
• St. Christopher's Hospital Opens After-Hospital Asthma (A-HA!) Clinic
• St. Christopher's Hospital for Children was honored for its perfect record of working with Gift of Life to identify potential organ donors

2010
• 4,300 Square-Foot Emergency Department Expansion
• Grand opening of specialty care center in Bucks County, PA
• Establishment of the Regional Fetal Evaluation Center
• St. Christopher's Hospital receives Hospital Outreach Achievement Award from Hospital Association of Pennsylvania

2009
• St. Christopher's Hospital for Children achieved Magnet™ status from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
• Grand opening of a specialty care center in Washington Township, N.J.
• Grand opening of a specialty care center in Reading, Pa.
• St. Christopher's receives the "Excellence in Life Support Award" from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization for its ECMO Program

2008
• Department of Health accreditation for the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Diagnostic Center for Children
• Neonatal staff hits perfection in two-year project that identified source of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) infections

2007
• Maria Delivoria-Papadopoulos, MD, Chief, Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine received The Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. National Physician of the Year Award for Lifetime Achievement
• Grand opening of the new 10-bed continuing care nursery and the new minimally invasive surgical suite

2006
• Grand Opening of the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation and Hollywood Video Home Theater for patients
• Groundbreaking for the newest Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children

2005
• A $1.2 million grant established the hospital's Grow Clinic

2003
• The hospital received Regional Level 1 Pediatric Trauma center designation.
• The hospital was named for a third year in a row as one of the best pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report

2002
• The hospital was named for a second year in a row as one of the best pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report

2001
• The hospital was named one of the best pediatric hospitals in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report

1998
• St. Christopher's Hospital for Children became part of Tenet Health System and the primary pediatric teaching facility for Drexel University College of Medicine

1995
• Became the first hospital in the Delaware Valley to offer grief support group to all children from the Delaware Valley

1993
• Performed the Delaware Valley's first pediatric split-liver transplant and the first living-related donor liver transplant
• Performed a heart transplant on the Delaware Valley's youngest patient - a 4-day-old infant
• Became the first hospital in the Delaware Valley to use cultured epithelial autographing to help stimulate skin growth on children with severe burns and epidermal abnormalities

1990
• Became the first hospital in the Delaware Valley to use electrical mapping to locate and remove a brain tumor in a pediatric patient
• (June 23) Entire hospital operations moved to Erie Avenue at Front Street location, which housed 183 beds

1989
• Became the first hospital in the world to use oxygen-rich liquid ventilation to help premature newborns breath

1987
• Performed the Delaware Valley's first combined kidney/liver transplant

1985
• Performed the Delaware Valley's first pediatric liver transplant and the first pediatric heart transplant

1984
• Established the first pediatric burn center between Boston and Washington, DC
• St. Christopher's outgrew its quarters. New site identified on Erie Avenue at Front Street.

1971
• Became the first hospital in the US to establish a tracheotomy unit for infants and children
• Surgeons also performed the Delaware Valley's first pediatric kidney transplant this year

1968
• Hospital's first open heart surgical case was performed

1963
• The clinical research center opened

1959
• Established the largest cystic fibrosis center for children on the East Coast

1940
• Established the nation's first child'life/play therapy program housed in a children's medical center

1886
• St. Christopher's was the first hospital in the region to offer neonatal care to critically ill infants

1875
• William H. Bennett, MD, founder, enlisted the help of the Children's Seashore House of Atlantic City to establish St. Christopher's Hospital of Philadelphia
• (November 30) St. Christopher's Hospital opened its doors as a charitable ambulatory pediatric clinic located at 552 Dauphin Street

You may also download a St. Chris Fact Sheet.