[Above] The original McElrath mansion where the hospital was founded in 1912.
[Right] Founder Bertha Wright holds two babies.
The 1913 Annual Report.
Children's Hospital Oakland
Residency Program
history of the Hospital
Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland is the fulfillment of the dream of a dedicated group of women who in 1912 saw the need for a hospital for babies. These women formed the Baby Hospital Association and raised the money to purchase the John Edgar McElrath mansion at our current hospital site for $12,500.
Bertha Wright, an early day nurse, converted the stable into a clinic. This operated for two years until the remodeled mansion was opened in September 1914 as "The Baby Hospital." At that time only children under six years of age were admitted. There were only six employees, and the cost of hospital care was $1 per day. A family could "insure" their children for clinic visits at a cost of $1 a year.
Since that time, Children's Hospital has added medical staff, personnel, buildings and laboratories. It is now a 191-bed pediatric medical center, the oldest, busiest and largest between Los Angeles and Seattle. This includes a very busy 47-bed Intensive Care Nursery and 30-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. One hundred and sixty six pediatricians and specialists in 31 subspecialties staff the medical center; including community physicians, Children's Hospital boasts an active medical staff of over 450.
Now, Children's admits more than 10,000 patients a year from northern California and beyond while handling more than 200,000 outpatient visits a year—more than 27,000 a year through the Emergency Department alone. It is also the designated trauma center for Alameda County. No child in the region is turned away for lack of funds.
Today, Children's Hospital Oakland serves not only as the provider of primary care for an increasing number of children living in its immediate service area, but also as the major regional tertiary referral and diagnostic center for northern California. Our outpatient services include primary care clinics and more than 30 outpatient specialty clinics, including satellite locations in a number of outlying communities. We have developed partnerships and alliances with a variety of neighborhood health centers, health agencies, schools and child development programs and have become the center for the network of pediatric care in the East Bay.
For more of the Children's Hospital story, click here.
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