A Look Back on 2010
2010 is coming to an end and, oh, what a year it was! Before moving on, we wanted to reflect back and recap some of this year's successes and exciting news at Children's Hospital Colorado.
Helping Haiti in a time of need
At the beginning of the year, Haiti was struck by a catastrophic earthquake that left 300,000 people injured. In response to the great need for medical care, four physicians and two nurses from Children's Hospital Colorado volunteered to go to Haiti for a week. Check out a blog about their life-changing experience in Haiti.
Children's keeps on growing
On July 28, 2010 Children's Hospital Colorado broke ground on a new 10-story, 350,000-square-foot tower expansion. The new tower will add 124 beds, with the option to develop additional space, bringing its total bed count to more than 500. The need for expansion came less than three years after Children’s moved to a brand-new facility on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado – much earlier than hospital leaders expected.
Also in July, Children's Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) finalized an agreement to jointly establish a center for advanced maternal fetal medicine offering state-of-the-art care for high-risk pregnant women and their babies. The new center initially will focus on babies needing highly-specialized surgical care within 72 hours of birth, and both the mother and baby will be cared for at Children's Hospital Colorado. Under the unique program, mothers who are carrying high-risk babies may receive outpatientcare and ultimately deliver at Children's Hospital Colorado starting in early 2011.
Children's recognized for electronic health records system
Almost three years ago, Children's Hospital Colorado switched to EPIC, an electronic health records (EHR) system, allowing many of our patients and their families to say goodbye to stacks and files of paper health records. The Wall Street Journal profiled one of our patients, Jacob, and his family about their experience with EHR at Children's Hospital Colorado.
Children's receives accolades for outstanding pediatric care
Children's Hospital Colorado has been ranked nationally by U.S. News & World Report every year since the inception of its pediatric hospital rankings edition in 1993. In 2010, the hospital ranked in nine specialty areas surveyed; among those, five specialties ranked in the top ten and three ranked in the top five. In addition, Children's was the only hospital in Colorado to obtain ranking in more than one pediatric specialty. Learn more about our awards and honors.
In addition, 5280 Magazine listed 76 physicians from Children's Hospital Colorado as Denver's top doctors in its October "Top Docs" issue.
Also, Safe Kids Colorado, a coalition headed by Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, won the Safe Kids USA Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy award. Safe Kids is Colorado is a local organization devoted to preventing unintentional childhood injury.
We gave our word to prevent shaken baby syndrome
Children’s teamed up with Kohl’s and The Kempe Center to ask people across Colorado to give their word to never shake a baby. Please join us and give your word, too!
Our first Project SEARCH class graduates
In fall 2009, Children's Hospital Colorado launched Project SEARCH, a school-to-work transition program for high school students with significant disabilities. The program’s first class of seven students graduated in May at Children's Hospital Colorado, and the program will start again in the fall. Read about a 2010 Project Search graduate who was offered a job at Children’s and has been working hard and spreading enthusiasm ever since!
Children’s advocates for the well-being of Colorado kids
Each year Children's Hospital Colorado works to positively influence public policy decisions related to children’s health and well-being. This year our Grassroots advocacy team made more than 1,900 contacts to legislators on bills related to children’s health and safety.
In addition, Children’s helped pass legislation to improve the safety of children riding in a car by requiring all children under 8 years old to be properly restrained in a booster seat.
Children’s also helped pass legislation that will require street engineering to include bike and pedestrian routes, along with new bicycle safety curriculum for schools.
Courage Classic fundraising for Children's broke its record
The Courage Classic in an annual benefit ride held in July near Vail, CO. The 155-mile ride takes place over a 3-day period and goes through some of the most scenic mountain passes in Colorado. This year 2,000 riders raised an unprecedented $2.3 million, with all proceeds benefitting Children's Hospital Colorado!
Chilean kids visited Children's for care
After the earthquake and tsunami in Chile last February, a Denver humanitarian identified several children who were not able to get surgery they needed to treat urologic conditions they were suffering from. Children's teamed up with American Airlines and made it possible for these kids to come to Children's Hospital Colorado to receive the care they needed. Read more about these families and check out a photo gallery of their experience.
Looking forward to 2011
After such an inspiring year providing care for children and their families, we're eager for even more great things to come in 2011. We look forward to the New Year as we continue to fulfill our mission of improving the health of children.
