King's Daughters Medical Center history

The King's Daughters opened their first clinic at 304 Charlotte Street in 1901.

In 1906 the What-So-Ever Circle purchased a two-story, nine-room frame house at East Winchester Avenue.

By 1913, the Boyd County Medical Association was drawing up a proposal for a Boyd County General Hospital.

In 1915, the hospital purchased property at the northeast corner of 22nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

On May 9, 1916, construction began on the new facility, which was to be two stories and have 50 beds.

In November 1917, the hospital staff began the move into the new facility.

The visiting nurses got their first car in 1919, after a prominent Norfolk businessman showed his wife $500 he'd won playing cards.

Starting in the 1920's, The King's Daughters joined forces with many local groups including the Kiwanis Club, The Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch (predecessor of The Virginian-Pilot), the Lions Club, the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the Norfolk Health Department, and the Red Cross.

In 1922, the Circle, with the assistance of a bond issue passed by the city and bricks donated by the Brookhaven Pressed Brick Company, opened a new facility, King's Daughters Hospital, on the corner of North Jackson and West Congress streets.

In 1958, that building closed (which is now known as Vincent Apartments), and a new administration building was completed across Lexington Avenue and the remainder of the hospital.

The group raised almost $1 million and broke ground for Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in 1959.

The hospital was dedicated on April 23, 1961 and on May 5, staff admitted the first children to the new, 88-bed hospital.

The King's Daughters and hospital administrator William Selvey soon led the facility to its first major milestone: its 1962 accreditation by the Joint Commission.

In 1963, the hospital began to study plans for a specialized Coronary Care Unit.

The hospital expanded in 1965 with a northern extension.

In 1967, a 24-hour emergency department was established.

To keep children from falling behind in their schoolwork, the hospital school program was created in 1969, with one fulltime teacher provided by the Virginia Department of Education.

In 1972, when premature infants had a very low survival rate, Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters opened the region’s first neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to help premature and ill babies grow and thrive.

The specialty of pediatric urology was added in 1973.

After the addition of the pediatric transport program in 1975, the NICU received hundreds of patients from across the region.

In 1979, CHKD opened two additional floors.

Our pediatric transport program expanded its services through a second transport van and an in-house chaplaincy program began in 1981; until then those services had been provided by volunteer chaplains.

Profits are put back into projects benefiting KDMC. In 1982, HUD made funds available for a project to provide low-income housing for the elderly and handicapped.

In 1984, CHKD’s forward-thinking leadership established Children's Health System as the region’s only pediatric health-care system.

In 1985, the Tri-State Regional Cancer Center opened adjacent to the Medical Arts Building.

In 1986, a new 16-bed Intensive Care Unit was completed, followed by the opening of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab one year later.

In 1987, CHKD pediatric surgeon Donald Nuss began working on a new surgical procedure to correct the most common chest wall deformity in children.

In 1990, a four level parking structure was completed along Lexington Avenue.

In 1994, CHKD opened a brand new hospital that was three times the size of the previous one.

In 1996, five primary care pediatric practices joined Children’s Health System, the beginning of the CHKD Medical Group which now consists of approximately 100 pediatricians in 18 practices from Elizabeth City to Williamsburg.

Ten years later in 1997, Doctor Nuss presented the new Nuss Procedure at an international surgery conference, officially launching his widespread adoption of the minimally-invasive procedure developed at CHKD.

In 1998, the King's Daughters Foundation was reactivated to increase community education about KDMC and to encourage financial support.

In 1999, King's Daughters Hospital changed its name to King's Daughters Medical Center to reflect the expansion of services to the community.

The $32 million Center for Advanced Care, now known as the Parkview Patient Tower 1, was completed in November 2000.

Reach Out and Read, a program that fosters literacy, also started at CHKD’s primary care practices in 2001.

In 2003, CHKD established the sports medicine program for young athletes in Hampton Roads.

In 2004, the Auxiliary opened a gift shop in the lobby.

Construction began in October 2005 and was designed to free up space in the existing hospital complex for inpatient and emergency radiology.

On May 8, 2006, a new $60 million 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m)., five-story Heart and Vascular Center, now known as Parkview Patient Tower 2, opened along 23rd Street.

Providing 13 guest rooms, a kitchen, dining area, living space and a reception area for those that are from out-of-town. It celebrated its 1,000th family on February 6, 2007.

The year 2008 also saw the opening of the 62,000-square-foot CHKD Health and Surgery Center at Concert Drive.

In 2013, CHKD completed a redesign of the hospital’s entrance, lobby and first floor walkways to improve patient access and traffic flow, and create an inviting welcome for CHKD families.

In 2014, CHKD established The King’s Daughters Milk Bank – the first of its kind in Virginia – and began processing donated mothers’ milk for medically fragile infants.

In 2015, CHKD opened the region’s first Urgent Care Center exclusively for infants, children and teens on Volvo Parkway in Chesapeake.