Floating Hospital for Children in Boston, Massachusetts is a downtown Boston pediatric hospital affiliated with and connected to Tufts Medical Center, occupying the space between Chinatown and the Boston Theater District.
The 128-bed children's hospital offers pediatric inpatient and outpatient services in every medical and surgical specialty. Floating Hospital for Children is also the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine, where all full-time Floating Hospital physicians hold faculty appointments.
Floating Hospital for Children also has affiliations with hospitals in the community, including Lawrence General Hospital, Lowell General Hospital, MetroWest Medical Center, Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital and Cape Cod Hospital. Floating Hospital Specialty Centers in Framingham, Woburn, Chelmsford, Westford and Lawrence provide sub-specialist care for children on an outpatient basis.
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History
Floating Hospital for Children began as a hospital ship sailing the Boston Harbor for the first time in 1894. For a time, the boat was also used for parties on Boston harbor, with the leisure cruise ending at midnight and hospital services opening at 8am. Heralded as a major innovation in pediatric medicine, the mission of the hospital ship was to take ill urban children out onto the harbor to experience the healing qualities of fresh sea air and sunshine. By the end of the first summer, 1,100 children were treated. For 33 years, Floating Hospital for Children was located on two successive vessels helping children and educating mothers about dysentery and other important health issues. Furthermore, two major advancements made on board were the development of a human milk bank to supply breast milk to sick infants, and the creation of the first effective synthetic milk product for infants (infant formula), still sold worldwide today as Similac®. The Floating Hospital claims to be the first with air conditioning in 1906, though the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast claims to be the world's first air-conditioned public building.
In 1927 the Floating Hospital ship was destroyed by fire, and an on-shore facility was created for research and some clinical specialties. It also began an affiliation with Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center's predecessor, the Boston Dispensary. Floating Hospital for Children officially merged with Tufts Medical Center in 1965, but still retains its own identity and rich, historic tradition.
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Emergency Medicine
Floating Hospital for Children is home to the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute (the oldest pediatric trauma center in the country) and is a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center.
Transportation
The Tufts Medical Center MBTA Station is on the MBTA Orange Line and there is a connecting Silver Line stop beneath the overpass connecting the main atrium with Floating Hospital for Children. Also within a short walking distance is South Station, a major transportation hub serving the MBTA Commuter Rail, MBTA Red Line, Greyhound Lines, Amtrak, and several Chinatown buses with links to New York City.
References
Further reading
- Lucie Prinz; Jacoba van Schaik (2014). The Boston Floating Hospital: How a Boston Harbor Barge Changed the Course of Pediatric Medicine. Boston Floating Hospital. ISBN 978-1934598153.
External links
- Floating Hospital for Children Official Website
- Tufts University School of Medicine
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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