    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [June 13, 1991]
    [Pages 650-652]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Hospital for Sick
    Children
    June 13, 1991

        Thank you all very, very much. We got a tent, we have clowns. What
    else is there? [Laughter] This is wonderful.
        Listen, thanks for that warm welcome. And Barbara and I have been
    looking forward to this. And I want to acknowledge a special friend of
    yours, a friend of medicine's who came out with me here today, our
    Secretary of HHS, Dr. Lou Sullivan. We just came from the Rose Garden
    where we talked about the importance of childhood immunization. And I
    want to tell you, the more I see and listen to our Secretary, whom we've
    known before he became Secretary--Morehouse School of Medicine, where he
    was a head--the more I respect his work for this country, particularly
    for the children of this country.
        We're also honored to have with us today, resplendent in uniform,
    Dr. Antonia Novello, who with such a poignant firsthand knowledge she
    has of the critical need for this kind of hospital of compassion. And a
    special greeting to Dr. Constance Battle who I met, the hospital CEO,
    medical director, and guiding spirit.
        And to Stephen Montgomery, the introducer, the chairman of this
    hospital's board, a person who epitomizes what we refer to as the Points
    of Light. Let me say to you and all the other volunteers and all the
    others that give their lives to helping others here, we are very, very
    grateful to you.
        And to the representatives of the District that are with us today,
    may I salute you. And welcome also to the doctors, the nurses, the
    therapists, the aides, the volunteers who fill these halls with life and
    love. A special welcome--a special welcome to the parents who are here,
    but even more than that, most of all to the kids themselves right over
    here.
        Barbara and I are thrilled to be here. She heard that 62 years ago,
    the First Lady, Mrs. Herbert Hoover, laid the cornerstone of the main
    building here. And so, she and I are both thrilled that we'll get to do
    this job today. She talked with me about her very moving visits here,
    and she speaks for the mothers' special love for those most in need.
        Some of you kids have been to our house, the White House, the
    people's house, when you've come for Christmas tours. But I wanted to
    see this place for myself. And you know something, I'm sure that
    Barbara's stories even didn't prepare me for the majesty of this place.
    I expected to feel sadness when I got out of the car, and I felt a sense
    of joy and real hope projected by those who have committed a lot of
    their lives to helping others here. As parents, we desperately want to
    protect our kids; we want to spare them pain or fear. And that's

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    why our hearts go out to families whose kids lie in incubators or cribs,
    wheelchairs behind the walls here. And it's hard to face a world in
    which your children suffer. You ride an emotional rollercoaster, and you
    must draw upon all reserves of courage and love and certainly faith just
    to make it through each day.
        These marvelous kids--and I wish all of you could see them from this
    vantage point, at least the ones we have with us--have won their first
    great battle, the battle for life. And now they're fighting the battle
    for recovery. And my money's on them; I believe they're going to make
    it. And they're being very good listening to all of this. [Laughter] And
    this is the place where they start. It may be hard for some of us to
    walk into a hospital, I confess that myself, but you get drawn into the
    drama of life within its walls. And you see notes at the end of the
    cribs, I'm told, ``She smiles when tummy is rubbed,'' or ``He reaches
    for panda when it's moved away.'' Some tiny bodies bear the marks of
    what brought them here, regrettably, society's ailments: abuse,
    accidents, drugs. But the staff's love and care casts a special light
    upon everything.
        I was reminded of a Bible verse that describes apostles who did
    their work because it was right: ``We were gentle among you like a nurse
    taking care of her children.'' The Bible says that. Gentle among us like
    the nurse in a rocking chair cradling an infant swathed in tubes, or the
    one who dressed the comatose girl in a new dress. The little girl in her
    twilight world will never see her outfit, but it shows that somebody
    cares. Gentle like the senior citizen volunteer sitting next to a
    window, feeding the blind toddler on his lap. The caregivers have
    created within a maze of machines and respirators a human world; a
    community of hugs and kisses, a world where people talk not of how sick
    the kids are--that's with them every day--but of how well they can be; a
    world where a nurse, explaining why she does what she does, says without
    pausing to think it over, ``They feel our love.''
        You know, when you're dealing in medicine, whether you're a doctor
    or not, we toss around the word ``miracle'' a lot. But this hospital
    reminds of its true meaning. A real miracle is saving one child. It's
    watching a toddler take that first unassisted breath in his life. It's
    seeing a young girl, paralyzed from the neck down, learning to draw with
    her mouth. Well, Bobetta, I'm talking about you. Or it's saying goodbye
    to a boy who came 14 months ago as a premature newborn and who will be
    leaving next month, going home with his mom and dad.
        Really, I think, that's the legacy of the Hospital for Sick
    Children. It's a legacy that must spread. I was amazed to hear that this
    is one of only a handful of similar hospitals in this country. We need
    more places like this, transitional care facilities for kids who no
    longer require a hospital's acute care, but who aren't well enough to go
    home yet. We need communities like this, where parents can apply the
    salve of love and can learn how to care for their kids in the years
    ahead. And the staff here, I'm told, is developing a magnificent program
    that shows how to set up this kind of hospital.
        I hope health care professionals across this country will learn from
    it and go on to develop more facilities like this one. They're cost-
    effective. They work. They stabilize children and give them the best
    possible chance to live and to recover. We'll need more such centers
    since the technologies that save lives also create more long-term health
    challenges.
        Barbara's told me that you always have a waiting list here. She's
    also told me that you never turn away any children whose families cannot
    pay. And I look at your plans for expansion and think of how many more
    lives you'll be able to reach out and touch.
        The Hospital for Sick Children is a hidden treasure. And it brings
    out the hidden treasure in kids who otherwise might have been forever
    forgotten. No one who walks through your doors can leave without feeling
    a kind of awe. You bring alive the prayer of St. Francis: ``Where there
    is despair, let me sow hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where
    there is sadness, joy.''
        And thank you for the life-transforming love that you show. Barbara
    and I will never forget this place or any of you. And may God bless you
    for your inspiring work

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    and the very special kids that you love.
        Thank you all very much.

                        Note: The President spoke at 10:02 a.m. on the
                            grounds of the hospital. In his remarks, he
                            referred to Secretary of Health and Human
                            Services Louis W. Sullivan; Antonia C. Novello,
                            Surgeon General of the Public Health Service;
                            Constance U. Battle, chief executive officer and
                            medical director of the hospital; Stephen
                            Montgomery, chairman of the hospital's board of
                            directors; and patient Bobetta Ricks.