Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center

Infobox Hospital
Name = Le Bonheur Childrens Medical Center
Org/Group =


Caption = Le Bonheur main entrance

Location = 50 N. Dunlap
Region = Memphis
State = Tennessee
Country = US
HealthCare = Private & Charity
Type = Pediatric
Speciality = Pediatric, Many Subspecialties of Pediatric Medicine
Standards =
Emergency = Yes
Affiliation= University of Tennessee
Beds = 225
Founded = June 15, 1952
Website = http://www.lebonheur.org/
Wiki-Links = |

Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center is a 225-bed children's hospital Located in Memphis, Tennessee. It has more than 500 medical staff representing 45 pediatric specialties. Its pediatric residency program is affiliated with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. The children's hospital primarily serves children from 95 counties and six states including Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas but also serves patients from all over the world due to its nationally recognized brain tumor program. It is the home of the Children's Foundation Research Center. It functions as the region's primary level 1 pediatric trauma center, the next closest being either Little Rock children's Hospital in Little Rock, or Vanderbilt Pediatric Medical Center in Nashville.

History

Le Bonheur was founded in 1952 by the Le Bonheur Club, originally a women's sewing circle, and was originally an orphanage dedicated to caring for poor children. The Le Bonheur Club members raised all of the money for the initial investment for the hospital. When the doors opened on June 15 1952, the Le Bonheur Club President Mrs. Howard Pritchard stated, "The doors of Le Bonheur will never be found closed and will forever hereafter be open to those who come in need, seeking its help."

Since 1952, the medical center has gone through two major expansion projects and is currently raising $100 million to build "the New Le Bonheur," to be located on the adjacent block due north of the present site.

In 1995, LeBonheur became a part of the Methodist Healthcare group. It is supported by the Memphis, Mississippi and Arkansas conferences of The United Methodist Church.

In 2007, Meri Armour, MSN, MBA was named president/chief executive officer.

Pedi-Flite Team

Le Bonheur maintains a fleet of two ambulances equipped for critical care transport and staffed by an EMT-IV or Paramedic, an RN, and an RRT. PediFlite also contracts with Hospital Wing in Memphis for helicopter transports utilizing PediFlite's crew. PediFlite has a 150 mile primary ground and rotor radius. We are able to do long distance ground transports as well as fixed wing transports. PediFlite transports any patient from birth to 18 years of age. PediFlite is dispatched from the hospital transfer center.

Future Development

Le Bonheur is planning a $235 million US Dollar expansion onto the current campus. This expansion will put the facility at 1 million square feet. The expansion will involve the construction of a 12 story tower and a 330 space parking garage. The new tower will accommodate 230 beds and 14 room surgical suite. After the construction of the new tower is complete, a portion of the old facility will be torn down to build a new 490 space parking garage, new entrance, and green space that can be utilized for later expansions. This expansion will also involve enlarging the emergency department with the plans to handle patient volumes through the year 2014. Construction was scheduled to begin in the summer of 2007 and is expected to be finished in 2010.cite web| url=http://www.downtownmemphis.com/domain/news/developer/September_05.html | title=Downtown Developer, September 2005 | publisher=Downtown Developer | accessdate=2007-12-14 ]

On February 14 2008, ground was broken on the new expansion by Le Bonheur executives. The site for the expansion will be the site of the old Memphis Mental Health Institute, which was demolished to make way.

External links

* [http://www.lebonheur.org Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center Web site]
* [http://www.utmem.edu/cfrc/about_hist.html Children's Foundation Research Center Website]

References