[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 79 (Friday, June 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6004-S6005]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHILDREN NEED CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS
Mr. BOND. Mr. President, the National Association of Children's
Hospitals and Related Institutions recently released a new report
titled ``All Children Need Children's Hospitals'' that explores how
essential children's hospitals are to the health of all children. The
report highlights the fact that--whether they ever enter a children's
hospital or not--all children benefit from the far-reaching work of
children's hospitals.
In the clinical care area, freestanding children's hospitals--which
make up less than 1 percent of all hospitals--treat a
disproportionately large share of children with highly specialized or
complex conditions. For example, 46 percent of children with cancer, 45
percent of the children with cystic fibrosis, and 52 percent of
children needing
[[Page S6005]]
heart or lung transplants are cared for by these hospitals. In their
own communities, these percentages jump even higher.
In addition to providing the most specialized and medically advanced
care available, children's hospitals deliver preventive and primary
care as well. They are the safety net hospital and community provider
for low-income children. For example, across the Nation, more than 8
million outpatient visits and 1.6 million emergency room visits are
made to children's hospitals and their community clinics annually. At
Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, over 200,000 outpatient
visits and more than 70,000 emergency/urgent care visits occurred in
2000. Medicaid accounts for more than 45 percent of the inpatient days
at children's hospitals, which devote nearly half of their care to low-
income children. In fact, a children's hospital, on average, provides
10 times as much inpatient care to low-income children as any other
urban hospital.
For all these children, the doctors, nurses and health professionals
at children's hospitals take a family-centered approach to health care.
Parents are considered partners in the care and treatment of their
children. Children are made to feel comfortable and safe--feelings
reinforced by in-room accommodations for families and age-appropriate
patient rooms and playrooms. Doctors, pediatric nurses, occupational
therapists, social workers, dentists, and child life specialists are
among the health professionals taught by children's hospitals to put
families first.
Children's hospitals train a substantial number of our children's
doctors. The freestanding children's hospitals--again, which comprise
less than 1 percent of all hospitals--train 30 percent of all
pediatricians, half of all pediatric specialists, and a substantial
majority of pediatric researchers. Their teaching programs are
essential to the future of the pediatric workforce and to the future of
children's health care. The promise of biomedical research cannot be
realized for children without researchers at the bench.
The medical research and breakthrough discoveries conducted at
children's hospitals benefit all children, preventing illnesses as well
as advancing treatment. Children's hospitals have been the sites of
many historic firsts, such as the discovery of polio vaccine.
Children's hospitals have led the way in fetal surgery, transplants,
advancements in cardiac treatment, and in the care of more common
conditions such as asthma. Their contributions to cancer research have
led to great progress in curing childhood cancers that were untreatable
just a few decades ago.
Together with pediatric departments of university medical centers,
children's hospitals account for 30 percent of all NIH-funded pediatric
research; and they train the great majority of future pediatric
researchers. Virtually all children's hospitals participate in clinical
trials or health services research. Research moves from bench to
bedside rapidly at children's hospitals, allowing new discoveries to
transform more children's lives for the better. And these discoveries
not only benefit children, but adults as well. The answers to many
costly and painful health problems that affect adults like diabetes and
obesity, can often be found in childhood. And many of the principles
discovered in the study and treatment of children diseases, such as
cancer, have also been applicable to adults.
Finally, children's hospitals' mission to improve the health of
children throughout the nation doesn't stop at the hospital door. By
developing innovative programs like ``SAFE KIDS,'' children's hospitals
focus community attention on children's health issues, improving child
health through prevention as well as cutting-edge care. They work with
schools and communities to provide valuable services to children with
special health care needs and children facing abuse.
I understand that children's hospitals are for all children, perhaps
better than most, because I have learned that from my children's
hospitals at home. Missouri is blessed with top-notch children's
hospitals. Their doors are open to any child in need of care. Their
efforts in advocacy and community work are directed to the health care
needs of all children. Their missions in education and research reach
all children as well.
Children are different. They are not small adults. And no institution
knows this better than a children's hospital. They provide the highest
quality medical care, day after day, to children from all parts of the
country, from the most distant rural areas to the closest inner city
neighborhoods. They are essential to the health and health care of
children today and tomorrow.
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