Tufts Medical Center will close its pediatric hospital after treating sick children for over a century - masslive.com

Tufts Medical Center will be closing the doors to their 41-bed pediatric hospital in the summer after over a century of caring for sick children. This closure will result in converting the pediatric beds into more space to treat adult patients, according to The Boston Globe.

Tufts will be moving children in their care down the road to the leading pediatric hospital in Mass., Boston Children's Hospital.

The closure, which was announced Thursday, will be a somber one for the hospital as Tufts is "an institution that has treated acutely ill children since 1894, starting on a ship that sailed around Boston Harbor and became known as the Floating Hospital for Children," The Boston Globe reported. Patients, medical professionals, and families that are connected to Tufts pediatric hospital will most likely have a difficult departure after the many years of being apart of the caring for the children in the Boston community.

With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations on the rise, hospitals everywhere are feeling the pressure to open up more beds for sick patients of all kind. Tufts is no exception.

Hospital leaders at Tufts are facing the facts that the demand for adult care beds is in dire need, while children's beds remain half empty.

According to The Boston Globe, the number of seriously ill adults with heart problems, strokes, sepsis, and other conditions is on the rise, and Tufts is turning away dozens of adult patients a day because it doesn't have enough adult hospital beds.

"The market's changing, the demands are changing, the community needs are changing. We feel this is really in the best interest of children and in the best interest of our institution," Dr. Michael Tarnoff, chief executive of Tufts Medical Center, said.

Dr. Kevin Churchwell, chief executive of Boston Children's, said his hospital will be able to accommodate the additional patients from Tufts, after a planned opening of a new building at the hospital's Longwood campus in June. With the new tower, the hospital's capacity will increase from about 400 to 475 beds after renovations, according to The Boston Globe.

Both Tufts and Boston Children's are collaboratively working on plans for outpatient pediatric services, but no further details have been shared.

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