Children’s Inn Celebrates 10^th Anniversary

Extract

In the early 1980s, families of sick children at the National Institutes of Health envisioned a place where they could stay after a long day of treatment, free of the seclusion and expense of a motel room. Persistent in making such a place reality, they joined with others who shared their vision—caregivers, community members, and Philip Pizzo, M.D., former chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute.

Their effort paid off. In 1987, NIH set aside two acres of land within walking distance of its Clinical Center for a Children’s Inn. Merck & Co. Inc. donated $3.7 million to build it, and volunteers and congressional spouses formed the “Friends of The Children’s Inn” and raised $2 million to furnish the facility.

The Inn will recognize its 10^th anniversary on June 4. Since its opening it has housed 4,000 sick children, the majority of whom have been cancer patients, and their families.