La Rabida has a long history of serving the children and families of Chicago. This year, we are celebrating the Gem on the Lake’s 125th birthday. Over the last 125 years, we have touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. In that time, we have expanded our services to meet the needs of the community and have grown in ways we never thought possible.
Our story begins in 1896 when the Spanish government constructed an exhibition hall during the Chicago World’s Fair. The building was a replica of Spain’s La Rabida Monastery. After the fair, the Spanish Consulate donated the building, located on Lake Michigan at Jackson Harbor, to the City of Chicago to use as a fresh air sanitarium for sick children – then called “La Rabida Jackson Park Sanitarium”. A group of volunteer women led the effort to equip and staff the facility, raising money for operations and recruiting volunteer physicians. In our early years, we focused on treating children with conditions like typhoid, diphtheria, and scarlet fever.
As medicine improved and these diseases faded away, La Rabida physicians turned their attention to rheumatic fever which claimed the lives of many young children through the 1950s. La Rabida became the first and only sanitarium in the Midwest that could treat rheumatic fever in children. “I was a patient at La Rabida in 1965 when I had rheumatic fever at eight years old,” shared Janet O’Melia, former La Rabida patient. “I was placed on bed rest. I remember being scared at first, but I ended up having a wonderful experience. I was treated well and taken very good care of. I didn’t want to leave!” The hospital gained international recognition for research that led to the eradication of that disease. In the 1960s, when the threat of rheumatic fever ended, we made a formal commitment to treat the chronic illnesses of childhood.
“I remember the people – the staff was incredible. My family thought I was in a top-notch place,” recalls Marian Steele, former La Rabida patient. “I remember making a couple of friends and having fun there. In my heart, I’m La Rabida alumni. Even though I’m 65 now, there will always be a soft spot in my heart for La Rabida.”
Today, La Rabida is a not-for-profit specialty hospital that provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary services to children and their families. Our inpatient and outpatient services focus on chronic conditions like diabetes and sickle cell disease as well as developmental disabilities like cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. In addition, we specialize in the treatment of children who are dependent on technology (ventilators and feeding tubes), those in need of rehabilitative services, and those who have experienced trauma. La Rabida offers access to board-certified pediatricians, specialists, advanced practice nurses, physical and occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, dietitians, social workers, and mental health professionals.
Children don’t choose their circumstances, and we never let those circumstances affect the care children receive. We firmly believe that every child deserves care, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. The only thing a child should focus on is being a kid.
This story was featured in the June 2021 issue of eCurrents. Read the full issue here.
