Dr. Kelch reflects
Robert P. Kelch, M.D., Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the U-M Health System, reflects on the past, present and future of C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital
When the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital opened, the Ed Sullivan show was still on the air, Woodstock was making the news and we were just stepping foot on the moon. Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was the top-rated TV show, Marcus Welby, M.D., won an Emmy for Best Drama and the average house cost a little less than $28,000.
The year was 1969, and I was in the last year of my residency training in general pediatrics at the U-M Medical School. I can still remember looking out from the 10th floor of the old University Hospital - then home to a large pediatric unit - and watching Mott Hospital being built.
It was a very exciting time for pediatrics and the U-M, and what set this incredible time in our history into motion was the $6.5 million grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in 1964 to plan and design our first separate children's hospital at U-M.
It wasn't long before other groups and individuals followed the lead of Mr. Mott's foundation with donations and contributions. Soon the construction of C.S. Mott Children's Hospital was well underway. Now, forty years later, it's truly amazing to look back and see how far Mott has advanced in clinical care, research and education since the 1960s.
Many of my most memorable professional achievements have occurred in Mott, and that's why the campaign for a new children's and women's hospital has a special meaning for me. I've been a part of this place longer than anywhere else in my career. I have greater affection for this place than just about anywhere -- and I know it's time to work toward change.
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| Dr. Kelch with a patient in his early days at Mott. |
Today, Mott has been maximized to its fullest potential to keep up with increasing patient demand and to maintain our commitment to quality patient care. Currently, nearly every service in Mott is operating at or near patient capacity due to space constraints.
Since the Mott facility was designed in the 1960s, patient care, research and medical technology have made extraordinary advances. Now, due to space limitations, Mott is struggling to keep up with these advances in technology and treatment.
During the last four years alone we have grown tremendously in the number of patients we see and the number of faculty we employ, making the need for a newer hospital that much more profound. Just like a child grows out of infancy into adolescence and a teen matures into adulthood, Mott has outgrown its current structure.
But history bears repeating. And my hope is that the Mott Foundation's new $25 million grant again will serve as a catalyst to drive support for our fundraising efforts so that we are able to build a new facility that will long serve our community well and move us far into the 21st century of health care.
Dr. Kelch completed his internship and pediatric residency at U-M, started as an assistant professor of pediatrics in 1972, became a professor of pediatrics five years later, was named department chair in 1981, and chief of Clinical Affairs and assistant dean for Clinical Affairs before leaving to take a job as dean of the University of Iowa Health System in 1994. He returned to the UMHS in 2003 as its CEO and U-M executive vice president for Medical Affairs.
