September 1983
Phoenix Children's opens its doors within Good Samaritan Medical Center.
1985
Camp Rainbow, a summer camp for children with cancer and blood disorders, opens in Prescott with 27 kids attending.
1987
Phoenix Children’s Intensive Care Nursery is the first in Arizona to introduce extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), an advanced form of life support.
1994
The Foundation’s inaugural Beach Ball raises more than $121,000.
1994
The Bill Holt Clinic opens, becoming the first pediatric clinic in Arizona for children with HIV/AIDS.
1997
The heart and hand logo is introduced.
2000
The Crews’n Healthmobile, a mobile medical unit, begins providing medical care to children and adolescents experiencing homelessness.
May 25, 2002
Phoenix Children’s opens a new freestanding hospital at 20th Street and Thomas Road, including Arizona’s first pediatric emergency department.
2003
Phoenix Children’s and Mayo Clinic introduce the Valley’s first pediatric blood and marrow transplant program, with 14-year-old Ashley Robinson undergoing the hospital’s first bone marrow transplant.
November 2003
Robert L. Meyer takes the helm as Phoenix Children's President and CEO.
Setting a New Course
20 years of progress under President and CEO Robert Meyer
Building a freestanding children’s hospital was undoubtedly necessary for the community. But construction, coupled with operational challenges, almost bankrupted Phoenix Children’s in the early 2000s. That is, until Robert L. Meyer came into the picture.
Meyer was brought in as a consultant in 2002 to help the board turn the hospital around. But after meeting with the physicians and staff, he was struck. “From the beginning, I was so impressed with the passion—of the physicians, of the board, of the families, of the community for that matter—to make this work,” says Meyer. “And so it became clear to me that we had to find a way.”
And he did. “Doing turnarounds is always difficult, but it’s easier when you have support—and we had support,” he says. “By the end of 2003, we were profitable.”
Under Meyer’s leadership, Phoenix Children’s embarked on a two-decade push to build destination programs, including cardiac, oncology, neuroscience and orthopedic units—all focused on family-centered care. The hospital has invested in learning and development, health care education and geographic expansions to make pediatric care more accessible in Arizona.
“We were one of the first hospitals to adopt family advisory councils,” Meyer
says. “And when we asked our families what they needed, the one thing we kept hearing again and again was ‘access.’ That’s when we started to expand with our ambulatory and urgent care centers.”
2007
The East Valley Specialty and Urgent Care Center opens.
2008
The Ronald McDonald House opens on the Thomas Campus.
June 2011
A new 11-story tower opens on the Thomas Campus, part of a $588 million expansion.
2013
Arizona’s first and only Down syndrome clinic opens.
2015
The Bubba Watson and PING Golf Motion Analysis Lab opens to help children with gait abnormalities.
2019
A study led by Michael Kruer, MD, director of the Pediatric Movement Disorders Program, shows that genetics may play a role in causing cerebral palsy.
2022
Give-A-Thon, the country’s largest radiothon for a children’s hospital, tops the $2 million mark for the first time.
Why your donations matter
Steve Schnall, Phoenix Children’s Chief Development Officer, Foundation, on the transformational effects of philanthropy
Q: Why was it important to build an independent children’s hospital?
Children are not little adults. They have very unique health care needs, and so having a consolidated children’s hospital allows us to have a depth of resources and expertise that provides a very different standard and level of care than an adult hospital that offers pediatrics can. For example, an adult hospital might have one pediatric cardiologist, one pediatric oncologist on staff. At Phoenix Children’s, we’ve got more than 35 pediatric cardiologists and almost 20 pediatric oncologists. We have a whole team of doctors who treat only kids with brain tumors.
Q: How does philanthropy fuel growth?
Looking back at old photos and seeing the timeline here reminds me of all we have accomplished, and it makes me all the more grateful for the support of our community. The truth is, we wouldn’t be what we are today without the generosity of our donors. Sure, we would have the lights on and would provide the best possible care to children, but we wouldn’t have the funds we need to open new locations around the Valley so more families can access care, to purchase new equipment and the latest technology that makes a difference for our patients, and to bring in renowned specialists and researchers who will change the future of pediatric medicine.
