Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, also known as Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care children's teaching hospital and entity of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The hospital is affiliated with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt comprises 343 pediatric beds and over 1 million square feet of clinical and administrative space. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout Nashville and the greater mid-south region. The hospital also sometimes treats adults who require pediatric care. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt also features an American College of Surgeons level I pediatric trauma center for critically ill pediatric trauma patients. The hospital is attached to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, including Vanderbilt University Hospital. It is affiliated with the nearby Ronald McDonald House of Nashville. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt is routinely ranked among the best children's hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. History Vanderbilt Children's Hospital began in 1923, with the establishment of the Junior League Home for Crippled Children. The Children's Regional Medical Center within Vanderbilt University Medical Center was founded in 1971. In the fall of 1971, Frances Keltner Hardcastle led a group of dedicated women and community leaders of the Junior League of Nashville, who had created and sustained the Junior League Home for Crippled Children, to form the Friends of the Children's Hospital (established in 1972) to support the Children's Regional Medical Center and to raise funding and public awareness for a fully distinct Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. In 1980, construction on the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital facility was completed, and the patients from both the Children's Hospital and the Junior League Home for Crippled Children moved into a single medical facility dedicated to children's medicine. During the 1980s and '90s, the Friends of the Children's Hospital continued community outreach and development efforts to support the Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University. Monroe J. Carell, Jr., former CEO of Central Parking Corporation, lead in the raising of $79 million in funds for the construction of a new stand-alone facility, including $20 million from his family's personal donations. In 2004, the 616,785-square-foot (57,301.2 m2) Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University opened with 238 inpatient beds, 16 operating rooms, 36 intensive care unit beds, and space for 104 premature infants in the neonatal