Community Benefits
You can count on Children's Hospital for more than just top-quality health care!
Since 1937, Children's Hospital has provided the best in pediatric health care to the children and adolescents of this region. But our dedication to our community extends beyond the medical services we provide.
Children's Hospital is a 501(C)(3) tax-exempt institution, meaning we do not pay federal income and excise taxes or state and local property and sales taxes. To meet the criteria for tax-exempt status, an organization.
- must act on behalf of its community
- must return any revenue back into the organization (must use any budget surplus to purchase new equipment, expand our facilities and enhance our services)
- must not spend substantial effort to influence legislation or participate in a political campaign.
Without a tax exemption, Children's Hospital would be forced to pass along our increased expenses to our patients. As our number of patients grows each year, so does our need for more equipment and larger facilities. Without tax exemptions, it would be more difficult to add services and maintain equipment at the rate our community needs.
In fulfilling our mission, Children's Hospital provides numerous benefits to the community beyond medical services
1. An open-door policy. This is our most important benefit, as stated in our Statement of Philosophy. We offer medical services to all children, regardless of their parents' ability to pay. Not only that, but our Scott M. Niswonger Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, meaning the door is always open!
2. A dedicated pediatric facility. Children's treats patients from birth through age 21. Over the past 25 years, Children’s Hospital has recruited physicians from nearly 30 pediatric subspecialties and now has more than 100 specialized pediatric physicians to provide a full complement of pediatric medical and surgical services. Families seldom need to travel outside of East Tennessee to receive specialized care for their children.
3. Healthy Kids Community Education Program. The Healthy Kids program features parenting classes and newsletters on a variety of topics ranging from safety to development to health. Classes are primarily for parents, grandparents and guardians, but some are also designed for teens (such as the Safe Sitter babysitting course).
4. Community involvement. As an advocate for children, Children's Hospital provides staff, volunteers, in-kind services (such as meeting space) and/or financial support to many community organizations whose goals are to improve the lives of children, including American Cancer Society, CoverKids, CureFinders, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Down Syndrome Awareness Group, Dream Connection, Girls on the Run, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Knox County Health Department, Knox County Schools' Partners in Education, Knoxville Area Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, March of Dimes, Montgomery Village, Smoke-Free Knoxville, TENNder Care Coalition and United Way.
5. Safe Kids. Children's Hospital is the lead organization for Safe Kids of the Greater Knox Area, a local chapter of this international non-profit dedicated to preventing unintentional injury in children ages 14 and under. Each year, Safe Kids of the Greater Knox Area conducts well over 100 safety events in more than a dozen counties, including more than 30 car seat checkpoints, about 20 bike safety events, several water safety events and a handful of fire safety events.
6. Partners in Education. Children's Hospital participates in the Knox County School System's Partners in Education program. Our "adopted" schools are Karns Elementary School, Cedar Bluff Elementay School and Fort Sanders Educational Development Center. Each school year, Children's conducts programs for the students at each school and provides special treats for their teachers. We also provide the students an opportunity to create artwork to hang on the hospital's walls or at our affiliate sites or to be used in our publications and on our website.
7. Hello Hospital. The Child Life Department at Children's Hospital and dozens of volunteers provide this free program to kindergarten classes in all Knox County elementary schools. "Hello Hospital" is designed to teach young children about what it is like to visit a hospital and ease some of their fears about the experience.
8. Professional education. Children's Hospital supports health care education by offering student internships, externships, nursing scholarships and training programs for student nurses, pre-med students, social work students, child development specialists and others pursuing health care as a career. Children's works jointly with the UT Medical Center and UT Medical School to provide medical school rotations in family practice, surgery and other specialties at our facility. Children’s Hospital also provides the clinical rotation in pediatrics for third-year residents of the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine at Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee. The hospital also is the pediatric clinical training site for student nurses, respiratory therapists, radiology students and students in other health care disciplines from colleges throughout the area. Furthermore, Children's Hospital is an accredited Continuing Medical Education provider in Tennessee. As a CME provider, Children's Hospital conducts and sponsors relevant CME programs for physicians and nurse practitioners who treat children.
9. Community events. Children's Hospital takes part in a variety of Health Fairs at local schools and community events to provide health education to the public. At these events, free brochures and information sheets are provided on many health topics.
10. Summer camps. Children's Hospital sponsors camps for a number of our patients with special medical needs who might be unable to attend a traditional camp. The camps for our hematology/oncology, diabetes and Rehabilitation Center patients are staffed with health care professionals who provide supervision and needed medical care during the camping experience.