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Three little piggies play;
Mickey teases Pluto with a biscuit;
seven dwarfs hang out in the ledges;
Dumbo smiles at visitors;
a hot air balloon sails above;
Jack is climbing the beanstalk while tin soldiers guard the castle; and the Miracle is anchored outside in the atrium.

It's Disney everywhere.....but it's not Disney World nor is it Disneyland.....it's the lobby of the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando Florida. The Disney company loaned a team of its imagineers to make the lobby a wonderland for kids.

The Golden South Classic is one of the only high school track meets that operates as a charity. All meet proceeds are donated to the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida. This year the donation will benefit the Pediatric Sports Medicine Program.

At the invitation from the program, DyeStat made a visit to the hospital. With John Carney and Melissa Anthony as our hosts, we toured both the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital and adjacent Winnie Palmer Women and Babies Hospital. We were impressed with what we saw.

“Each year, more than 3.5 million children in the U.S. are treated for sports injuries. Our goal at Arnold Palmer Hospital is to care for and prevent athletic injuries in children.” 

Add that figure to the many unreported children sports injuries and you have a reason for pediatric sports medicine. 

In the beginning -- The Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children

In the 1980s pediatric care was limited to a few pediatricians, family doctors and one wing of the Orlando Regional Hospital system which was really an adult facility.  Interested in providing health care designed to meet the needs of children, a group of doctors and health professionals formed the Children’s Medical Care Foundation of Greater Orlando.  While the foundation raised money from personal and other contributions, it was not enough to pay for building a comprehensive system. 

Enter renowned golfer Arnold Palmer. Already invested in Orlando business through a golf course, Palmer was interested in supporting a local charity.  After a tour of the pediatric ward of the hospital, Palmer said, “We can do better than this.”  Palmer agreed to fund a new hospital for pediatric medicine and he agreed to put his name on the hospital, with three conditions. The hospital must:  1. always be tops in the country for customer service and patient care; 2. never refuse service to a  child because of inability to pay; and 3. never let the hospital smell like a hospital.  

To date, John says those requirements have been met. Ever since the hospital opened it has been in the top 8% of all children’s hospitals in the US; the hospital is a community hospital dedicated to serving all people regardless of ability to pay, and it doesn't have the clinical, medicine smell like most hospitals, we can attest to that. 

With funds provided from Arnold Palmer, constructed began.  Rather than build an entirely new structure, an existing hospital, the Holiday Hospital was remodeled and a new adjoining building of 160,000 square feet was added.  The newly remodeled hospital opened as Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women on Arnold Palmer’s birthday, September 10, 1989.  The hospital was a quick success, meeting its 5 year growth projections in the first 5 months of service.  So planning for the next expansion began soon after the hospital opened.   After much planning and fund raising a new hospital was built and opened May 30, 2006 as the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies (pictured left) named after Winnie Palmer, Arnold Palmer’s late wife.  The two buildings were joined by a bridge and together the two hospitals are known as Arnold Palmer Medical Center and is the largest women, children and baby medical center in the US.   The Children’s Hospital is devoted to the care of sick children.  The Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies Women and Babies is primarily for labor and delivery.

Today, the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Winnie Palmer Women and Babies Hospital is the only medical center in the Southeast (and one of only six in the nation) dedicated exclusively to serving the special needs of children and women.  It has a national reputation serving patients from 48 states per year and some international patients who are usually Disney visitors in need of urgent or emergency care.  In this day and age of nursing shortages, Arnold Palmer Hospital has no shortage of applicants.  Nurses want to work at these two hospitals.  Melissa Anthony had two children in the hospital.  This was the hospital of choice for her and she says many other women who come because this is the place they want to have their baby. In the first full year of service, the hospital delivered 14,000 babies!  This is the 3rd busiest labor and delivery hospital in the US behind a hospital in Atlanta and another in Dallas.

The Pediatric Sports Medicine Program is a fairly new part of the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.

Dr. Jay Albright

Started as a part time service, the program has evolved into a full time important service of the hospital under the direction of Dr. Jay Albright. The program uses a multidisciplinary approach to treatment, rehabilitation, education and prevention with the goal of providing care for and prevention of athletic injuries in children without concern for ability to pay.  

Treatment provided this year to a Flint, Michigan high school track and field athlete points to the national reputation that the Program is earning. Read the story of Brandon Brown and how the Program is saving his foot. The Brandon Brown story.

The Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is a not-for-profit full-service hospital that relies heavily on philanthropic support to continue supporting its mission. If you would like information on how you can become involved, visit www.arnoldpalmerhospital.org.

Touring the Facilities

We started at the entrance of the Winnie Palmer Women and Babies Hospital. As pictured, the hospital is a very futuristic building with a domed entryway and glass exterior.

The hospital cathedral lobby	The waiting room inside the glass dome.
A typical hospital room that looks more like a hotel room. The bathroom is beautifully finished in granite, tile and wood. Both labor and delivery take place in the room. Unsightly equipment is tucked away behind cabinet doors and drawers and art work.	Each floor is marked with artwork that enables staff and visitors to quickly identify their location.

Children's Hospital

We went from the Womens Hospital to the Children's Hospital where we entered a child's world. The decor is like stepping into nursery rhymes where pillars are trees and desks and tabletops are brightly colored. Everything is geared to helping children deal with their illness or injury and hospital stay.

The Dyes in the cartoon world.	Everything, yes including the linens, are geared to helping the children feel better and less afraid of their stay.

Care Managers Kim (l) and Ashley are in charge of helping children relax and understand their illness or injury and their hospital stay. They are bubbling with personality and seem well suited to their task.

Unlike the waiting room in the television program ER and many other hospitals, the Children's Hospital is proud to say that this is what theirs looks like with few exceptions: empty. There is no real wait at this hospital.

Like any respectable play land, the hospital has a miniature train display complete with 3 levels and 3 trains rounding the mountain.

We are pleased to say that our visit was a wonderful experience.