The Hospital for Sick Children | |
The Hospital for Sick Children from University Avenue | |
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Geography | |
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Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Organization | |
Care system | Public Medicare (Canada) (OHIP) |
Hospital type | Specialist |
Affiliated university | University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine |
Services | |
Emergency department | Level I trauma center |
Helipad | TC LID: CNW8 |
Beds | 370 |
Speciality | Children's Hospital |
History | |
Founded | 1875 |
Links | |
Website | www.sickkids.ca |
Lists | Hospitals in Canada |
The Hospital for Sick Children (also known as SickKids Hospital) – is a major paediatric centre for the Greater Toronto Area, serving patients up to age 18. Located on University Avenue in Downtown Toronto, SickKids is part of the city’s Discovery District, a critical mass of scientists and entrepreneurs who are focused on innovation and application of new ideas and knowledge. SickKids is a teaching hospital for the University of Toronto.
SickKids has built an integrated environment of patient care, research and learning with six centres of excellence, in bone health, brain and behaviour, cancer, cystic fibrosis, heart, pain and transplantation. In 2009-2010, SickKids admitted 14,000 in-patients who stayed for an average of 7.1 days. The operating room treated 11,000 cases; there were 58,000 visits to the emergency department and 215,000 visits to the hospital’s ambulatory clinics. SickKids has about 370 beds and provides the highest level of complex and specialized paediatric family-centred care.[1]
The SickKids Research Institute is the largest child health research institute in Canada. It employs almost 2,000 people, or a quarter of the SickKids workforce. The Research Institute is known for its groundbreaking research in stem cells, childhood cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases, and is home to the Database of Genomic Variations, known as the Toronto Database.[2]
The Learning Institute was established in 2007 to support all forms of learning, from formal training of health-care workers, to the education of patients and families and the transfer of knowledge to the community. SickKids shares its knowledge globally through SickKids International.[3]
The hospital is equipped with a rooftop helipad (CNW8).[4] since 1972.[5] It is one of two downtown hospitals with a helipad (other being St. Michael's Hospital (Toronto)) and one of three in Toronto (the third at Sunnybrook Hospital).
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SickKids has a tradition of finding ways to improve child health. This culture of discovery led to the establishment of SickKids Research Institute which is home to an important group of scientists under the leadership of Dr. Janet Rossant, Chief of Research. They will all be housed under one roof in The SickKids Research & Learning Tower.
Construction of the 21-storey building started in 2010 and is scheduled for completion in 2013. The building is designed to facilitate collaboration among clinicians, scientists and scholars and nurture a climate of innovation. The $400-million project is supported by Canada Foundation for Innovation, a $200-million fundraising campaign led by SickKids Foundation, and long-term borrowing.[6]
Over the years, a number of initiatives at SickKids have grown to play an important role in local, national and international health-care delivery, including the Ontario Poison Control Centre, Motherisk (launched by Gideon Koren in 1985), Safe Kids Canada, electronic Child Health Network of Ontario, and AboutKidsHealth.
SickKids Corporate Ventures facilitates the transfer of knowledge developed by physicians, scientists and professionals into products and programs. Its 130 licences for intellectual property technologies generate about $2 million annually.[7]
In 1875 Elizabeth McMaster and several other women from Toronto set up a children's hospital. Starting in April the hospital admitted forty-four patients and treated sixty-seven as outpatients.[8]
In 1876 the hospital moved to larger facilities. In 1891 the hospital moved from rented premises to a building constructed for it at College and Elizabeth streets where it would remain for sixty years. This old building, known as the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, is now the Toronto area headquarters of Canadian Blood Services. In 1951 the hospital moved to its present University Avenue location, on the grounds where Canadian star Mary Pickford's childhood home once stood.[8] The hospital underwent its last major expansion in 1993 with the construction of a glass-roofed atrium on the east side of the main building.
Medical treatments at SickKids are covered by publicly funded health insurance, as is the case in all Canadian hospitals.
Philanthropy is a critical source of funding for SickKids, separate and distinct from the funding received from government and granting agencies. Community support, which includes private donations from individuals, families, corporations and foundations, allows SickKids to invest in care, medical learning and research.[18]
In 2009/10, SickKids Foundation invested $52.5 million in child health. Of that amount, the Foundation granted $47.9 million directly to the hospital and $4.6 million to national, international and other initiatives. This is one of the largest investments in children’s health care in Canada and one of the largest annual contributions to a hospital in the country.[19]
A significant portion of the Foundation’s annual grant is directed to research infrastructure support. It also is invested into key patient care initiatives, purchase medical equipment, provide education and training to health-care professionals and fund various special programs aimed at enhancing child and family-centered care.[20]
Braithwaite, Max (1974). Sick Kids; the story of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-1636-0.
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