Riley Hospital for Children | |
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Geography | |
Location | Indianapolis, Indiana, United States |
Organization | |
Care system | Non-profit |
Hospital type | Non-profit Pediatric Hospital |
Affiliated university | Indiana University School of Medicine |
Services | |
Emergency department | Level I Pediatric Trauma Center |
Beds | 350 staffed beds |
History | |
Founded | 1924 |
Links | |
Website | http://www.rileyhospital.org |
Lists | Hospitals in Indiana |
The James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children is a children's hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana.
It is named for James Whitcomb Riley, a writer and poet who lived in Indiana. As of 2005, it is part of Indiana University School of Medicine and operated by Indiana University Health.
In 1916, a group of prominent citizens from Indianapolis who knew Riley started the Riley Memorial Association (later called Riley Children's Foundation) to build a children's hospital in memory of Riley. The hospital opened in 1924. In 1950, the foundation started Camp Riley, a camp in south central Indiana for children with disabilities.
Ranked eleventh overall out of about 250 children’s hospitals throughout the United States by Child magazine, Riley Hospital serves as Indiana’s only comprehensive children’s hospital. The hospital is a part of Indiana University Health, which includes Methodist Hospital and University Hospital. Together, they help more than 57,000 patients annually. If a family is not able to pay for its child’s medical costs, Riley offers medical care to all Indiana children regardless. The hospital has 247 licensed beds, 11,105 admissions and observation cases, 162,466 outpatient visits, 15,000 emergency department visits, 2,028 full-time staff, and 235 medical staff.
Named for the poet James Whitcomb Riley, Riley Hospital began treating children in 1924. In 1921, the Riley Memorial Association, today called the Riley Children’s Foundation, was founded with the intention of building a children’s hospital in memory of Riley, whose love for children was communicated through his poems. In 1935, the hospital installed a hydrotherapeutic pool, the dedication of which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended.