Hospital type Specialist Lists Hospitals in Italy Phone +39 055 56621 Affiliated university University of Florence | Speciality Pediatrics Other links Teaching hospitals Founded 1884 | |
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Location Florence, Province of Florence, Italy Address Viale Gaetano Pieraccini, 24, 50139 Firenze, Italy Similar Bambino Gesù Hospital, Hospital of Santa Maria Nu, Historic Centre of Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio Profiles | ||
The Meyer Children Hospital (Italian: Ospedale Pediatrico Meyer) is a pediatric hospital located in Florence, Italy.
The hospital is an official member of the European Network of Health Promoting Hospitals of the World Health Organization and the personnel are involved in prevention and health promotion programs for the Regional and National Health Departments.
History
Founded in 1884 by the Marquis Giovanni Meyer in memory of his wife Anna, the Meyer Pediatric Hospital was one of the first Hospital institutions in Italy exclusively devoted to the problems of child health care from birth to adolescence. Nowadays the Hospital is considered an integral part of the city’s community life, so much so that is affectionately referred to as the "Little Hospital" (in Italian “l’ Ospedalino").
The original structure faces onto Via Luca Giordano and it has subsequently been enlarged to house the numerous additional services which have opened over the years. The hospital’s fame reached a peak just after the Second World War when tubercular meningitis was treated successfully for the first time, under the guidance of Prof. Cesare Cocchi.
In 1995, the Meyer Hospital with the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Florence became an independent health institute of the National Health System, due to recognition of its role as a highly specialized pediatric institution. This honor has been conferred to very few pediatric hospitals in Italy. Many of the hospital’s services have been identified as specialized referral units for the region of Tuscany.
In 2007 the historic seat of Via Luca Giordano has been dismissed. The actual seat is in a new structure near Florence central hospital, Careggi.