About us
Valley Children's Healthcare was founded more than 70 years ago by five visionary mothers who dreamed of providing high-quality healthcare for the Valley's children close to home. Today, with more than 670 physicians and 3,500 staff, Valley Children’s provides comprehensive care to more than 1.3 million children in Central California. As one of the largest pediatric healthcare networks in the nation, Valley Children’s offers highly specialized medical and surgical services to care for children with conditions ranging from common to the highly complex at our 358-bed stand-alone children’s hospital that includes 28 regional NICU beds, regional specialty care centers, pediatric primary care practices and women’s health services.
Why choose Valley Children’s Healthcare?
At Valley Children's Healthcare, we are dedicated to providing the highest quality care for children and their families. Our commitment to excellence, compassionate care and innovation makes us a top choice for pediatric healthcare in the Central Valley. Here are a few reasons why you should choose Valley Children's:
- Specialized pediatric care: Our diverse team of pediatric subspecialists is dedicated to delivering comprehensive healthcare services tailored to the unique needs of children, from before birth to young adulthood.
- State-of-the-art technology and facilities: We offer cutting-edge medical technology at the forefront of pediatric healthcare innovation. In addition, our facilities and support programs are designed specifically for kids, easing the hospital experience for our young patients and their families.
- Compassionate, family-centered approach: We prioritize the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of our patients and families by providing a welcoming and supportive environment, and by putting the child and their family at the center of all we do.
- Advanced training for pediatric residents and fellows: Our robust Pharmacy Residency and Fellowship Programs, Pediatric Residency Program, and Hospital Medicine Fellowship Program train the next generation of pediatric specialists, building on a legacy of excellence in pediatric healthcare.
- Special focus on giving back to our community: Honoring our mission and our founding mothers’ vision, we are deeply committed to serving the children and families of the Central Valley, regardless of their ability to pay, and to giving back to our communities through education and kid-centered, community-based programming.
Our mission, vision and values
Mission: Our mission is to provide high-quality, comprehensive healthcare services to children, regardless of their ability to pay, and to continuously improve the health and well-being of children.
Vision: Our vision is to provide the nation's best healthcare for kids and to become the nation's best children's hospital.
Values:
- Integrity: We are honest and ethical, and we take responsibility for our actions.
- Collaboration: We promote teamwork and positive working relationships.
- Compassionate Care: We respond to others with warmth and kindness.
- Innovation: We continuously seek ways to improve and solve problems.
- Excellence: We are dedicated, disciplined and strive to be the best in everything we do, demonstrating high standards and dedication.
- Stewardship: We manage our resources effectively to achieve the best outcomes.
Our history
Since we first opened our doors in 1952, we have grown into a nationally recognized children's hospital known for pioneering firsts and clinical breakthroughs. From performing the first open-heart surgery in the Valley to being the first children’s hospital west of the Rockies to receive the prestigious Magnet Nursing designation to being recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a best children’s hospital, our history is a testament to our unwavering commitment to providing the best care for kids.
Explore our history decade by decade below.
1949: Valley Children’s founding mothers – Carolyn Peck, Gail Goodwin, Helen Maupin, Agnes Crocket and Patty Randall – announce their vision to establish a dedicated pediatric hospital in the Central Valley. They launch the first Valley Children’s Guild to begin raising financial and community support.
1952: Through fundraising efforts by the original Guild, Valley Children's Hospital officially opens at the corner of Shields and Millbrook avenues in Fresno.
Front entrance of Valley Children's Hospital, c. 1952
1953: An iron lung and electromyography are added for polio patients.
1955: Valley Children’s pediatric cardiac surgery program begins with closed-heart procedures. By 1958, Valley Children’s performs its first open-heart atrial septal defect closure.
1961: The Hospital acquires a heart defibrillator. The Intensive Newborn Service Center opens to care for premature infants. In order to calm patients' fears and help them feel comfortable, the Hospital starts a program to take patients on pre-operative tours. The first adult heart surgery is performed at Valley Children's.
A Valley Children's nurse points to a display board of foreign objects removed from children's lungs and esophagi.
1971: Our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) opens with eight beds. A "preemie transport system” begins soon after, allowing transport of premature infants to the Hospital from across the Valley. More than four decades later, with 88 beds, it is the only Regional Level IV NICU in Central California.
1975: Our fully equipped emergency room opens. To this day, Valley Children’s remains the only designated pediatric trauma center in the region.
A Valley Children's physician examines an X-ray.
1978: In a first for the area, Valley Children’s surgeons separate conjoined twins.
1978: “AM admissions” or Day Surgery unit opens. This gives children the opportunity to check in for surgery in the morning and be home that night.
1979: Valley Children’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) opens.
1980: A newly remodeled intensive care unit opens. The adult cardiac unit closed to accommodate more pediatric programs.
1983: The first telethon to benefit Valley Children’s airs.
Valley Children's Hospital entrance sign, c. 1980
1985: Valley Children’s NICU opens at Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno.
1986: Valley Children’s rehabilitation center opens. For more than 30 years, we continue to offer the only pediatric rehab center in the Central Valley and one of only two on the West Coast.
1989: Valley Children’s Olivewood Specialty Care Center in Merced opens.
1995: Valley Children’s NICU opens at Mercy Medical Center in Merced.
1996: Valley Children’s NICU opens at Adventist Health in Hanford.
1997: Our first primary care physician practice, Charlie Mitchell Children’s Center, opens in Madera.
1998: Valley Children’s Hospital moves a few miles north to its new location in Madera.
Aerial photo of Valley Children's Hospital campus in Madera
2002: Valley Children’s Specialty Care Center in Modesto opens.
2004: Valley Children’s becomes the first designated Magnet Nursing hospital west of the Rockies. This prestigious designation recognizes the highest levels of excellence in nursing and is awarded to less than three percent of all hospitals in the U.S.
2006: The Hospital receives a $4 million donation from the Wonderful Company that allows us to expand 60,000-square feet with additional surgical suites, imaging department, PICU and Emergency Department (ED).
Photo of Valley Children's Emergency Department
2008: Valley Children’s becomes a Magnet Nursing hospital for a second time (hospitals may apply for redesignation every four years). Valley Children’s Hospital becomes the first hospital in the state to offer private rooms in our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
2010: Our PICU receives the Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence for the first time. This award is given by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) to fewer than 10 PICUs in the nation.
2014: Valley Children’s Healthcare officially forms, a network focused on providing comprehensive, high-quality pediatric care to more families across our vast service area. Our first inpatient clinical partnership with Sierra View Medical Center launches.
2015: Valley Children’s 34th Street Specialty Care Center in Bakersfield opens.
2016: Valley Children’s Hospital ranks for the first time as one of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” – in Neonatology. Our PICU again receives the Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence. Valley Children’s Akers Specialty Care Center in Visalia opens.
2017: The inaugural class of the Valley Children’s Pediatric Residency Program, affiliated with Stanford University School of Medicine, arrives.
2018: Valley Children's transitions its 34th Street Specialty Care Center services to the newly built, 52,000-square-foot Eagle Oaks Specialty Care Center in Bakersfield.
Exterior photo of Valley Children's Eagle Oaks Specialty Care Center in Bakersfield
2019: To meet the growing need for pediatric specialty care services in the North Valley, Valley Children’s transitions services at its McHenry Specialty Care Center to the new Pelandale Specialty Care Center, a 40,000-square-foot building that sits on six acres in north Modesto.
2023: Valley Children's Hospital is ranked for the eighth year in a row as one of the country's best children's hospitals in seven pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report: Neonatology, Pediatric Diabetes & Endocrinology, Pediatric Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Pediatric Neurology & Neurosurgery, Pediatric Orthopaedics, Pediatric Pulmonology & Lung Surgery and Pediatric Urology.