Cook CHILDREN'S Health Care System

Cook Children's Health Care System (System) embraces an inspiring Promise-to improve the health of every child through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury. As a not-for-profit, nationally-recognized and integrated pediatric health care organization based in Fort Worth, Texas, Cook Children's is comprised of 14 entities. They include a medical center, physician network, health plan, home health company, health foundation, a child study center and three surgery centers located in Fort Worth, Hurst and Prosper. It also includes Cook Children's Health Services Inc., and Cook Children's Health Foundation. Cook Children's Health Care System's growing reputation draws patients from near and far. Families travel from across Texas and the United States, as well as internationally, to receive life-saving pediatric care and benefit from the collaboration and vast resources the system offers. In addition to the medical center, a network of more than 60 primary, specialty and urgent care locations provide numerous access points for families. Community Needs Spur System Growth As the communities grow, the system continues to expand its services to meet the needs of children and families living in those areas. In 2019, the system added facilities near Walsh in Fort Worth, in Prosper and in Carrollton with primary care, urgent care and orthopedics services. In 2020, the Prosper campus grew to include an outpatient surgery center, outpatient imaging and lab services, and a number of specialty care services. Expansion of the Prosper campus continues with plans to add an inpatient medical center with an emergency department, operating rooms, medical/surgical unit and pediatric intensive care unit. Cook Children's pediatric surgery centers are home to specialty clinics and surgical teams specializing in many conditions, from simple to the most complex, and many of the procedures in these centers are done using minimally invasive techniques. The Dodson Surgery Center is one of three Cook Children's surgery centers in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. It is undergoing an expansion to centralize 40 specialty clinics into one location in order to support a more seamless experience for children who receive care from multiple specialties. The expansion calls for 240,000 square-feet of new building and 75,000 square-feet of renovated space. Much of the planning and preparation for this endeavor took place in FY2020 to ready for the start of construction in February 2021. Award Winning Performance For more than 100 years, the system has worked to combine the art of caring with life-saving pediatric interventions that are family-centered and built on leading technology, collaboration and a best-in-class patient experience. This has earned the system a strong, far-reaching reputation - one for which it continually receives recognition for outstanding efforts and outcomes in pediatric health care. Cook Children's commitment to comply with the highest national standards for safety and quality of care repeatedly earns the system the Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval. Cook Children's Medical Center has been named numerous times to the elite Leapfrog Top Hospitals list based on a national quality and safety survey. A number of CCHCS physicians, nurses, clinicians and programs received recognitions and awards in 2020, including CCHCS President and CEO Rick W. Merrill who was named one of the 400 most influential people in Fort Worth by Fort Worth, Inc. magazine. Protecting Your Tomorrows Like all organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic presented the System with many challenges, but also shed light on opportunities to identify, assess and plan for current and future needs for system-wide operational coordination, crisis management and infectious disease control. In response, Cook Children's announced plans to construct a year-round solutions center that will coordinate daily operational needs for the entire system and will house dedicated space for an incident command center. Plans also include converting an existing 20-bed medical/surgical unit into an infectious disease unit, constructing a 6-bed infectious disease critical care unit and creating new space for the medical center's internationally recognized simulation lab. A Cook Children's Health Foundation capital campaign, called Protecting Your Tomorrows, will provide funding for the project. In spite of the many challenges of FY2020, SYSTEM continued to lead with fiscal responsibility, service to its community and commitment to its employees. As a result, the system emerged from the year with a stronger workforce, a more nimble organization and better positioned to meet the health needs of the community no matter the circumstance.