Our System
Children's Health℠ traces its origins to the spring of 1913 when a group of nurses led by public health nurse May Forster Smith organized the Dallas Baby Camp, an open-air clinic, on the lawn of the old Parkland Hospital. After a few years, the Dallas Baby Camp grew into the Bradford Hospital for Babies. In 1948, the Bradford Hospital for Babies joined with Children's Hospital of Texas and Richmond Freeman Memorial Clinic to become Children's Medical Center Dallas.
More than 100 years later, we've continued to grow as our “right care, right place, right time” approach to health care required an increase in our geographic reach through growth of our hospital network and expansion of our continuum of care. Today, the Children's Health system includes two full-service hospitals, an inpatient specialty hospital and multiple specialty centers.
Our Hospitals
Among all our campuses, Children’s Health is licensed for 601 beds, including 490 beds at the main campus in the Southwestern Medical District near the heart of downtown Dallas, and 72 beds at Children’s Medical Center Plano. Among all of our facilities, we receive more than 800,000 patient visits annually, from all 50 states and around the world.
Specialty Care Centers
Our Children’s Health Specialty Centers bring nationally-recognized pediatric care close to home for families. Offering a wide array of outpatient pediatric specialties, outpatient surgery, lab services and rehabilitation, Children’s Health Specialty Centers have a wealth of resources under one roof.
Our relationship with UT Southwestern and Parkland
The Medical District is full of health care buildings. We often get asked what the relationship between Children's Health, UT Southwestern and Parkland is. UT Southwestern is a teaching facility. That means the doctors who are in training and the doctors employed at UT Southwestern also practice at other hospitals. The doctors at UT Southwestern practice at both Children's Medical Center Dallas and Parkland. However, Children's Medical Center Dallas and Parkland are not directly related.
You will be a patient of both Children's Medical Center Dallas and the doctor, who is likely a UT Southwestern doctor. Because of that, you might receive two or more bills - some from Children’s Health and some from UT Southwestern.