[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 139 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S12058]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           125TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST. LOUIS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, in 1878 a group of pioneering women 
led by Mrs. Appoline A. Blair had the innovative idea to open a 
hospital in St. Louis where children could receive the special care 
they needed and deserved. In 1879, St. Louis Children's Hospital opened 
its doors to children and families in downtown St. Louis, Missouri in a 
small, rented house with 15 beds. This year, St. Louis Children's 
Hospital, the first children's hospital west of the Mississippi River 
and the seventh oldest in the country, is proud to celebrate its 125th 
anniversary.
  Today, St. Louis Children's Hospital's clinical and community 
outreach programs touch more than 250,000 patients annually. Patients 
from all 50 States and nearly 50 countries around the world have passed 
through the doors and been served by this remarkable institution.
  The pioneering spirit with which this hospital was founded has 
continued through its long and distinguished history. St. Louis 
Children's Hospital, working in conjunction with Washington University 
School of Medicine, has consistently been at the forefront of pediatric 
care. From its earliest days St. Louis Children's Hospital has been 
home to critical pediatric advances. For example, from 1915 through the 
1920s, Dr. Vilray Blair, known as the father of plastic surgery in 
America, perfected several important methods for correction of cleft 
palate and cleft lip. At about the same time, Dr. W. McKim Marriott, 
the hospital's pediatrician-in-chief from 1917 to 1936, revolutionized 
the artificial feeding of infants developing a formula using evaporated 
milk corn syrup and lactic acid supplemented with vitamins and iron. In 
1922, for the first time anywhere, insulin was used to successfully 
treat an infant with diabetes. In 1927, Dr. James Barrett Brown 
performed the first homograft on a child resulting in the development 
of modern care for burns for children. In 1929, Dr. Alexis P. Hartmann 
developed the first practical treatment, Lactate Ringers Solution, for 
infants suffering from severe diarrhea and dehydration. Dr. Hartmann 
served as the hospital's pediatrician-in-chief from 1936 to 1964.
  St. Louis Children's Hospital pioneered developments in many other 
health areas, including diagnosis of congenital heart diseases. After 
the acquisition of a heart-lung machine in 1958, the hospital became 
one of the most active institutions in the country in the field of 
pediatric open heart surgery. David Goldring, MD, who formed the 
hospital's cardiology division in 1950 and remained its director until 
1985, was a pioneer in pediatric open heart surgery. In another 
``first,'' doctors oversaw the first complete exchange of blood in a 
tiny infant weighing less than 3 pounds.
  The first pediatric dialysis unit in the Midwest was set up at St. 
Louis Children's Hospital in 1974. Another innovation during the 1970s 
was the establishment of the Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Deformities 
Institute, the only one of its kind in the Midwest at the time. This 
unit works with many other areas of the hospital to reconstruct head 
and facial deformities in children. Dr. Thomas Spray, a cardiothoracic 
surgeon, performed his first successful Norwood procedure, an advanced 
surgical technique used to correct the fatal congenital heart defect 
known as hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Doctors at St. Louis 
Children's Hospital also performed the region's first cochlear implant, 
surgically implanting a device the helps children who are deaf to speak 
and comprehend language.
  In addition, St. Louis Children's Hospital established the first 
free-standing pediatric lung transplant program in the United States. 
Today, St. Louis Children's Hospital is home to the world's most active 
pediatric lung transplant program. The hospital is one of the nation's 
leaders in total pediatric organ transplants, offering kidney, liver, 
heart and bone marrow transplant programs as well.
  St. Louis Children's Hospital is recognized among America's best 
children's hospitals by Child magazine and US News & World Report, and 
its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is distinguished nationally by Child 
magazine.
  Mr. President, please join with me in celebrating 125 years of 
excellence in pediatric care. The pioneering vision and spirit of St. 
Louis Children's Hospital has improved the lives of children and 
families in Missouri and around the globe.

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