Trail Point 9 - CHILDREN'S MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

It

was in 1882 that Mrs. Julia Porter, the wife of a

clergyman

, established an eight-bed cottage to care for sick children, to memorialize her young son Maunce.  Shortly after, management was vested in a Board of Lady Managers, the antecedent of Today's Woman's Board, and the name was designated as The Children's Memorial Hospital.

From its inception the Hospital was

non-denominational, open to all children regardless of race or religion. It was also totally free. Not Until 1926 was limited space provided

for patients whose parents could pay.

Today the Hospital still maintains the largest

free-care program for children of any voluntary hospital in Illinois,

and approximately 45 per cent of its patient load is aided in full or in part by the Free Care Fund.

The

Hospital has grown through these many years

to a

240-bed general pediatric hospital, an

internat

ionally known referral center, and the pediatric training hospital of the Northwestern University Medical School. Its eminence as a teach ing and research institution is built on what remains the essence of its foundation: quality care undertaken in an aura where the dignity and sanctity of the individual child as a person is always the utmost concern.