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 North Philadelphia. In 1990, after 106 years at its location on Fifth Street and Lehigh Avenue, St. Christopher’s relocated to its present site on Erie Avenue at Front Street in Northeast Philadelphia.
The hospital is at the center of a 7.5 acre campus and has a satellite network of pediatric offices throughout the Delaware Valley. The 189-bed, $100 million facility includes an acute care hospital, two ambulatory care areas, a medical office building, a teaching and education center, and research laboratories. As part of the Tenet Healthcare System, St. Christopher’s serves as a regional referral hospital for children from around the Delaware Valley and throughout the world, as well as "family physician" for children living in our nearby communities.
Some of St. Christopher’s accomplishments include:
| 2008 |
Department of Health accreditation for the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Diagnostic Center for children. South Jersey Magazine names 31 St. Chris physicians to its "Top Docs" listing. 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 |
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children celebrated 130 years of service and the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program created five panels of history. The Department of Radiology received accreditation for the Fellowship Program in Pediatric Radiology. The Respiratory Care Department was renewed and recognized as a "Quality Care Hospital" for the second year in a row. The Pathology Department received the Department of Laboratory Accreditation by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) for Anatomical Pathology, Immunohistochemistry, Electron Microscopy, Cytogenetics, Virology, Microbiology, Molecular Pathology, Hematology, Blood Banking and Point of Care Testing. The laboratory is the only pediatric hospital between Boston and Washington, DC to perform ciliary Ultrastructural (EM) evaluation for the Immotile Cilia Syndrome. St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children achieved continued accreditation with JCAHO following a successful site visit, which took place in August 2005. A $1.2 million grant established the hospital’s Grow Clinic. |
| 2004 |
In the year since St. Christopher’s began to collaborate with The Eagles Youth Partnership on the Eagles Eye Mobile, approximately 1,200 children were screened, and close to 800 of them required glasses. |
| 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. The ECMO, Spasticity and Blood Conservation programs were established. |
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2000 |
The hospital celebrated its 125th anniversary and implemented the Gift of Life program. St. Christopher’s Pediatric Associates is also formed. |
| 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. |
Please download a timeline of St. Christopher’s prior achievements.
You may also download a St. Chris Fact Sheet.