FROM 10 PHYSICIANS TO MORE THAN 300: A SHORT HISTORY OF HEALTHONE'S

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN.

Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children is a new name, and will soon have a new, state-of-the-the home. But it is not a "new" hospital. With roots at Prebyterian/St. Luke's, it has grown over the past 17 years to become a "pediatric hospital within a hospital," offering world-class expertise in maternal-fetal, newborn, pediatric and adolescent care.

What started as a team of 10 physicians now has more than 300 affiliated physicians, providing 40 specialties in a collaborative, multidisciplinary care setting in Denver. As we embark on building a freestanding hospital for children on our campus, we'd like to share the story of how we came to be.

In 1977 at St. Luke's Hospital, before the merger in the late 1980s that created Presbyterian/St. Luke's, the University of Colorado School of Medicine had an obstetrical residency program at St. Luke's. In 1978, Peter Honeyfield, M.D. was appointed director of the Level II nursery at St. Luke's to support the obstetrical program and William Fuller, M.D. joined the staff as Director of Obstetrics.

Dr. Fuller, who wished to concentrate on obstetrics and gynecologic surgery, recruited Richard Porreco, M.D., to care for emergent high-risk deliveries - a move that generated the need for the highest level of neonatal care. This set in motion the formal beginnings of our Pediatric Program.

In the mid-1980s, a group of neonatologists joined the staff at St. Luke's to create a new model of care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Drs. Peter Honeyfield, Barbara Quissell, Delphine Eichorst, and Mark Brown created a neonatal team committed to providing 24-hour in-house attending coverage - unique in Colorado then and now.

About this time, St. Luke's Hospital and Presbyterian Denver Hospital merged to form P/SL. The neonatologists encouraged then-President and CEO Don Lenz, and Director of Physician Services James Conley to create a Department of Pediatrics to support the growing newborn service.

By 1991, the foundation for what is now Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children was set. Pediatric cardiologist Warren Toews, M.D. and I, along with pediatric anesthesiologists James Thorp, M.D., and the late Steven Pugh, M.D., and pediatric surgeon Jack Chang, M.D., decided to establish our offices on the campus as well.

Pediatric oncologists Drs. John Cullen and Edward Arenson, and pediatric otolaryngologists Drs. Nigel Pashley and James Jaskunas, and pediatric radiologist Gerald Horgan, M.D., formed the inaugural Pediatric Staff. In 1992, a Department of Pediatrics was established with Dr. Peter Honeyfield as the first
Chair.

In the ensuing 17 years, our "pediatric hospital-within-a-hospital" has been called different names. More important, we have seen growth in our pediatric expertise and capabilities, and patients who seek care with us - so much so that within the last five years, it became apparent to HealthONE leadership that the community and the HealthONE family of hospitals needed a stand-alone hospital for children in Denver.

Just as with Lenz and Conley at the beginning, Jeff Dorsey, President and CEO of HealthONE and HCA Continental Division, and Mimi Roberson, President and CEO of P/SL and Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, have worked to help our medical staff fulfill their dreams of building a freestanding facility on the campus of P/SL.

Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children is a culmination of the long-term efforts and dedication of medical staff, nursing and ancillary services, and administrators to provide children, parents and primary care physicians from metro Denver, the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains with choice, ease of access, and the highest quality and efficiency in maternal-fetal, neonatal, pediatric and adolescent care.