Children’s of Alabama (COA) has provided specialized medical care for ill and injured children across the state and throughout the southeastern U.S. since 1911. For the past three years, Children’s has been ranked among the best children’s hospital programs in the nation by US News & World Report. Last year, patients made more than 634,000 outpatient and nearly 14,000 inpatient visits to Children’s from every county in Alabama and from 47 other states. With more than 2 million square feet, it is the third largest pediatric medical facility in the U.S. Children’s offers inpatient and outpatient services across its Russell Campus on Birmingham’s historic Southside with additional outpatient surgery and diagnostic imaging services provided at Children’s South and Children’s on 3rd. Primary care is provided at more than a dozen offices in communities across central and north Alabama. The Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children is the only hospital in Alabama dedicated solely to the care and treatment of children. It is a private, not-for-profit hospital that serves as the primary site of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) pediatric medicine, surgery, research and residency programs.
Like Birmingham itself, COA has changed over the years. In fact, Children's growth has mirrored Birmingham's own economic transformation from blue-collar steel town to the thriving medical community it is today. Though much has changed since 1911, Children's commitment to Alabama's most precious resource - its children - has never wavered.
To realize its vision of providing a better childhood for all children, Children's of Alabama has recently embarked upon an unprecedented $435 million construction project that will expand and enhance the ability to provide the excellent care every child deserves. In 2012, Children's moved much of its inpatient services into a new building named The Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children.
As a teaching and research hospital, Children's is a tremendous asset to the state and the southeast logistically. Nationally, the hospital is part of one of the major centers for medical research and has been a major contributor to medical science, ranking among the top ten pediatric departments in funding by the National Institutes of Health.
Children's is home to the state's only Level I pediatric trauma center, the only pediatric renal care center, the largest pediatric burn center in the Southeast and is one of the largest pediatric outpatient centers in the nation. Its specialty centers for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, sleep disorders, cystic fibrosis, immunodeficiencies, sickle cell disease, epilepsy, lung disease, kidney disease serve as the backdrop for learning and discovery for health care professionals dedicated to the care of children. The newly built Center for Pediatric Research and Innovation houses research space and a state-of-the-art education center. Children's is headquarters for the Regional Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222), the Southeast Child Safety Institute and a site-based school for long term patients that is accredited by the State Department of Education.
