Valley Children's Hospital
Valley Children's Hospital, formerly Children's Hospital Central California is a pediatric acute care children's teaching hospital located in Madera County, California. The hospital has 212 pediatric beds and is affiliated the Stanford University School of Medicine. The hospital is a member of Valley Children's Healthcare and is the only children's hospital in the network. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout Madera County, Fresno, and California. Valley Children's also sometimes treats adults that require pediatric care. Valley Children's also features the largest ACS verified Level 2 Pediatric Trauma Center in the region. Valley Children's is one the largest providers of pediatric health services in California. The hospital is adjacent to the Ronald McDonald House of the Central Valley.
History
The organization was first founded on August 4, 1949 to help raise money to build a children's hospital. The hospital later opened in 1952. In 1971 the regional NICU originally opened with a capacity eight beds.The hospital opened their pediatric emergency department in 1975 to provide comprehensive pediatric emergency services to the region.
In 2002 Valley Children's Hospital was renamed Children's Hospital Central California and then in 2014, they changed their name back to Valley Children's Hospital.
In 2014 the hospital had 12,695 pediatric inpatient admissions and performed 12,265 pediatric surgeries.
In June 2015, Valley Children’s Healthcare announced a decision to separate from UCSF Fresno and instead partner with Stanford University for medical education and research.
In 2018, the hospital was officially verified as a Level II pediatric trauma center by the American College of Surgeons, making them the only pediatric trauma center in the region.
In late 2019 it was announced that Valley Children's Hospital had partnered with Universal Health Services to build a new 128-bed pediatric behavioral health hospital.
In early 2020, the hospital followed suit of hospitals all over the United States and implemented strict visitation protocols to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
About
The hospital provides a full range of pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout the region through its main hospital and surrounding regions with its outpatient clinics.The hospital features a state and ACS verified level 2 pediatric trauma center for critically injured trauma patients and also features two helipads for critical care and trauma care transport.
The hospital also features a state verified Level IV neonatal intensive care unit for critically ill neonatal patients.
Awards
The hospital has been designated as a Magnet hospital by the American Nurse Credentialing Center four times; 2004, 2008, 2014, and 2019.In 2018 the hospital ranked nationally in four specialties: neonatology, orthopedics, diabetes and endocrinology, and gastroenterology.
In 2019 the hospital was one of two children's hospitals in California to earn "Top Children's Hospital" status from The Leapfrog Group.
The hospital was named as the 10th largest children's hospital in the United States by Becker's Hospital Review.
As of 2021, Valley Children's Hospital has placed nationally in 7 ranked pediatric specialties on U.S. News and World Report.
| Specialty | Rank | Score |
| Neonatology | #31 | 80.9 |
| Pediatric Diabetes & Endocrinology | #46 | 65.5 |
| Pediatric Gastroenterology & GI Surgery | #42 | 68.3 |
| Pediatric Neurology & Neurosurgery | #37 | 73.8 |
| Pediatric Orthopedics | #21 | 74.9 |
| Pediatric Pulmonology & Lung Surgery | #31 | 74.3 |
| Pediatric Urology | #34 | 56.1 |