User:Andrew nyr/sandbox/TCHHistoryRehab

In 1940, Texas Medical Center was first chartered as a set district. Texas Children's Foundation is formed to gain support to build a children's hospital and 6 acres were set aside for the planned hospital.^[1] Groundbreaking for the new building was held in May 1951.

As the hospital was being built, hospital leaders established a relationship with the Baylor College of Medicine to allow students to be taught at the new hospital. The original TCH was planned to have 3 floors and 106 beds.^[2]

Texas Children's Hospital was first opened on February 1, 1954, creating the first children's hospital in Texas.^[3] From the start in 1954, physician-in-chief Russell Blattner, established a new policy that at least one parent may be with a child during a hospital stay, setting a standard for parental visitation now commonly seen at children's hospitals around the world.

In 1962, Texas Children's Hospital partnered with St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital to open up the Texas Heart Institute. Years later Texas Children's Hospital separated from the Texas Heart Institute instead establishing their own pediatric cardiology program.^[4]

Over the years, patient numbers at TCH continuously increased the hospital was forced to complete a $149-million expansion in 1989 that constructed two new buildings; the West Tower and the Wallace Tower. In addition to the new buildings, TCH also renovated the main building known as the Abercrombie Building.^[5]

On September 21, 1971, the patient known as "Bubble Boy," David Vetter was born at the Texas Children's Hospital. Vetter was immediately placed into a sterile "bubble" because of his SCID diagnosis. The boy lived in the hospital throughout his life before being discharged a few years later. Eventually he went to the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute for an experimental stem cell transplant, but died days later after contracting Epstein–Barr from the marrow, which had been undetectable in the pre-transplant screening.^[6]

By 1993, the hospital officially had 465 licensed beds.^[2]

When Hurricane Katrina first hit New Orleans in August 2005, Texas Children's (along with other hospitals) sent helicopters to Tulane Medical Center, Ochsner, and CHNOLA in order to help evacuate pediatric patients from the hospital.^[7][8][9] In addition to helicopters, Texas Children's sent multiple fixed wing aircraft, ambulances, doctors, and nurses to Baton Rouge to help with patient care in New Orleans. In the aftermath of the storm, TCH and Baylor College of Medicine also took in pediatric residents from Tulane to continue their education.^[10] Texas Children's Hospital was the primary pediatric evacuation hospital during Hurricane Katrina.^[11]

In November 2020, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson collaborated with Microsoft and billionaire Bill Gates to donate Xbox Series X consoles to the Texas Children's Hospital along with 19 other children's hospitals throughout the country.^[12][13][14]

• Texas Children’s Hospital helps establish the Texas Heart Institute to promote knowledge and treatment of adult and pediatric cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Denton Cooley becomes its surgeon-in-chief and cardiovascular consultant to Texas Children's Hospital.
• Texas Children’s becomes the first hospital to treat pediatric respiratory failure with home mechanical ventilation, allowing home treatment instead of prolonged years of hospital care.

• The hospital expands to 331 beds, more than double its original 106.
• The maximum age for patients is raised from 15 to 19.
• David, the Bubble Boy, born in 1971 with an immune deficiency, is placed in a specially designed bubble where he plays, sleeps, eats and attends school. Study of his condition leads to significant contributions in the study of immune system disorders.
• Dr. Ralph Feigin succeeds Dr. Russell Blattner as physician-in-chief in 1977.