About Us: Overview and Key Facts

Who We Are
Established in 1996 as the only children’s hospital to bear the Ronald McDonald® House Charities name, the Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center is a full-service hospital focused on families. Through general pediatric care and a number of pediatric specialties, our doctors, nurses and staff are dedicated to helping children lead active, healthy lives.

As a top teaching hospital, our staff of nearly 100 full-time pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists has access to the very latest in medical and technological advancements, research, and clinical trials. The main facility in Maywood, has several dozen general pediatric beds ae well as:

• A 50-bed Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
• A 14-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit designed with the latest technology and family amenities
• A leading-edge pediatric emergency department
• An intermediate care unit
• A mobile clinic-on-wheels to serve underprivileged children, complete with intake area, laboratory, and private examination rooms

Our pediatricians also can see patients at our centers in several suburban locations.

Our Special Programs

• The Pediatric and Hospice Home Care Program – developed in 1993 to enhance the continuum of care provided to children and their families in their own homes.
• The Neonate Integrated Home Care Program – developed in 1995, a unique Loyola program has helped transition over 1500 neonates from the hospital to home since its inception.
• Reading, Writing, and Recovery® –employs a full-time teacher to assist patients with their schoolwork during their hospital stay.
• The Ronald McDonald® House Near Loyola – a 18-bedroom facility adjacent to the Loyola University Medical Center campus that provides housing for families of children undergoing treatment for long-term illnesses.
• An active Family Advisory Council – made up of parents in our network, provides regular feedback to clinicians and managers on the care provided to children at Loyola.
• Child Life Program – a series of special services including art, music and pet therapy to help heal a sick child’s spirit and assists in dealing with the stress of hospitalization while he or she is undergoing treatment.

National / State Leadership

• The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which serves as a national model, consistently has produced some of the best infant survival rates in Illinois. In 2004-2005, the overall survival rate of infants on the NICU was 92.24 percent. For infants weighing 1000 grams or more (about 2 pounds, 3 ounces) or more, survival is 80 percent.
• The NICU became the first to offer an integrated home care program for premature or sick infants in the United States where the NICU nurses follow families in the home.
• The NICU includes a Perinatal Center that transports sick infants from other hospitals to Loyola.
• The Neonatal follow-up clinic provides services for NICU gradudates up to age 3.
• Our Spasticity Management Clinic is offered in partnership with DuPage County Easter Seal in Illinois.
• The children's hospital at Loyola was the only children’s hospital to receive the Ronald McDonald House Charities name Ronald McDonald Children's Hospital of Loyola in 1996.
• The two smallest surviving infants in the world were cared for at Loyola. In 1989 an infant weighing 9.9 ounces was cared for and is now a healthy young adult. In 2004, a baby weighing 8.6 ounces survived and is home doing well.