From humble beginnings as a day nursery in 1890, Akron Children’s Hospital has evolved into the largest pediatric health care system in northeast Ohio, operating two freestanding pediatric hospitals and offering services at about 70 locations across the region.
Children’s main campus in downtown Akron houses regional centers fo genetics, fetal treatment, cancer and blood disordrs, hear, palliative care, orthopedics, pediatric trauma, pediatric intensive care, and level III neonatal intensive care, among others. Children’s is also one of only two pediatric hospitals in the country that operates a burn center for both adults and children. In fact, Akron Children’s Paul and Carol David Foundation Burn Institute is among a few verified by both the American Burn Association and The Committee on Trauma of The American College of Surgeons.
Akrn Children's Beeghley Campus in Boardman is home to a 32-bed pediatric inpatient unit; a pediatric ER; a center for childhood cancer and blood disorders; an infusion center, as well as EEG/ECHO/EKG, radiology, laboratory and rehabilitation services. Other services based in the Mahoning Valley include a 33-bed neonatal special care nursery; child advocacy, community outreach and education center; and subspecialty practices for cardiology, orthopedics, nephrology, neurology, rheumatology, pulmonology and genetics.
In addition, Children’s provides pediatric services at Akron General Medical Center, MedCentral Health System in Mansfield, Aultman Hospital in Canton, Fisher-Titus Medical Center in Norwalk and Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, as well as offices in Beachwood and Hudson. Children’s also operates one of the largest pediatric primary care networks with 15 offices in seven counties including Cuyahoga, Medina, Wayne, Tuscawaras and Portage.
Akron Children’s is a major teaching affiliate of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Pharmacy, and offers 11 subspecialty fellowship training programs. These include pediatric anesthesiology, child and adolescent psychiatry, developmental-behavioral pediatrics, pediatric emergency medicine, pediatric hematology-oncology, pediatric palliative care, pediatric pathology, pediatric radiology, sports medicine, pharmacology and pediatric psychology. In addition, Children’s pediatric orthopedic surgeons are responsible for training residents in pediatric orthopedic surgery from Akron General Medical Center and Summa Health System; third-year orthopedic residents from the Cleveland Clinic; and pediatric and family practice residents, as well as pediatric emergency medicine fellows.
The Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Akron Children’s is one of only a handful in the country that has been recognized by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer as a “Pediatric Teaching Hospital Cancer Program.” It is also a member of the world’s largest childhood cancer research organization, Children’s Oncology Group, and ranks among the top third of pediatric cancer centers in the country in terms of the number of new cases seen each year.
In late 2008, Children’s launched Ohio’s first and only pediatric medical transport helicopter, known as Air Bear. And with more than 68,000 emergency visits in 2008, Children’s is among the busiest pediatric ERs in the country. In addition, Children’s performs more pediatric surgeries than any other hospital in northeast Ohio.
Akron Children’s has earned the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission and Magnet Recognition Status from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. In 2008, Children's became one of the founding members of the BioInnovation Institute in Akron, a unique collaboration of research, education and health institutions designed to pioneer the next generation of life-enhancing and life-saving innovations.
