{"id":3467,"date":"2017-02-15T17:41:11","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T17:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debbihester.com\/?p=3467"},"modified":"2017-02-15T17:41:11","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T17:41:11","slug":"el-paso-childrens-hospital-celebrates-5-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debbihester.com\/el-paso-childrens-hospital-celebrates-5-years\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso Children’s Hospital celebrates 5 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The road has not been always smooth, but El Paso Children\u2019s Hospital has kept its eyes on the road ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think about a fifth birthday as a milestone celebration, but for us it is a great opportunity to hit reset,\u201d\u00a0Children\u2019s Hospital\u2019s President and CEO Mark Amox said Tuesday. He was hired to lead the pediatric hospital in September 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is us going forward and telling the story that El Paso Children\u2019s Hospital is strong,\u201d Amox said.<\/p>\n

Physicians, nurses, volunteers and staff on Tuesday joined Amox and other hospital leaders, as well as families who the hospital has helped,\u00a0to\u00a0celebrate Children’s fifth anniversary of providing pediatric care in the region.<\/p>\n

The independently licensed non-profit\u00a0hospital, which operates in the\u00a0building owned by\u00a0University Medical Center of El Paso, had a bumpy start since it opened on Valentine\u2019s Day 2012.<\/p>\n

A financial dispute over $106 million in rent and services owed to UMC landed\u00a0the hospital\u00a0in bankruptcy court in 2015. The litigation culminated with a settlement<\/a>, relieving the hospital of $58 million, much of it in unpaid rent. The remaining $48 million is being addressed on a year-by-year basis.<\/p>\n

Since then, the hospital has had a stronger\u00a0relationship with UMC and has improved its finances, Amox said. The hospital is budgeted for a break-even year\u2014about $100 million in net revenue, he said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Chetan Moorthy, chief of staff at Children\u2019s Hospital, described the hospital’s first five years as a \u201ctough childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit of bullying, a little bit of illness, things that makes a kid though, and that is where we are right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Moorthy said the hospital\u00a0continues to\u00a0provide quality health care to children without the need to travel outside the city.<\/p>\n

Currently the state-of-the-art facility has a pediatric Intensive Care Unit and a pediatric Hematology and Oncology Unit, among other features. It has also grown to over 40 pediatric subspecialties, providing services to more children, officials said.<\/p>\n

Voters in November 2007 approved a $120 million bond to build and equip the pediatric hospital.<\/p>\n

n 2016, the hospital had more than\u00a03,300 children\u00a0admitted\u00a0and 22,000 children come through its emergency department, compared to 2,400 and 9,400, respectively, in 2012, officials said.<\/p>\n

One of those children is 7-year-old Elijah Garay.<\/p>\n

Nearly three years ago, he came into the hospital\u2019s emergency room with a\u00a0high fever and debilitating body pain that had lingered for about a week \u2014 symptoms that his pediatrician and doctors at three other clinics attributed to a common flu.<\/p>\n

At Children\u2019s Hospital, Elijah was diagnosed with HLH syndrome, a rare life-threatening disease of the immune system. He was treated with chemotherapy and steroids.<\/p>\n

Elija\u2019s father, Michael, said knowing why his son was hurting was a relief despite the diagnosis.<\/p>\n

“It was a living nightmare,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Elijah is now in remission. Every four months, he goes to the pediatric hospital for blood work to check on his \u201cbig germ,\u201d as\u00a0he calls the\u00a0disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors here made me feel better,” Elijah said. “I hope they keep making feel better other kids\u00a0with germs, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lorena Figueroa may be reached at 546-6129; lfigueroa@elpasotimes.com<\/a>; @LFigueroaEPT on Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"