More About Us 

  • CHKD was established in 1961 by The King’s Daughters and is still Virginia’s only freestanding, full-service pediatric hospital, providing comprehensive care to children from birth through age 21. 
  • CHKD is the heart of an integrated pediatric health care system of more than 2,000 employees providing comprehensive primary, specialty and surgical care for children. Patients have access to all the benefits of the hospital’s community outreach program, including educational workshops and lectures. 
  • A not-for-profit hospital committed to quality medical care for all children, CHKD has the highest percentage of Medicaid inpatient days of any hospital in Virginia. Last year, Medicaid covered approximately 62 percent of CHKD’s inpatient days.
  • Many of CHKD’s unique pediatric services address pressing public health needs that would otherwise go unmet. 
  • In fiscal year 2017, the hospital provided more than $100 million in community benefit programs and activities. 
  • In fiscal year 2017, there were 5,292 inpatient admissions, 3,293 outpatient observation patients, 169,083 visits to the hospital’s specialty clinics and 13,043 surgical cases. The Emergency Center handled 49,121 visits. 
  • CHKD's Mental Health team had 9,890 units in fiscal year 2017.
  • CHKD's physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy programs had 221,931 units, sports medicine physical therapy had 168,633 units, the catheter lab performed 823 procedures, there were 3,130 dialysis visits, and there were 2,567 sleep studies.
  • CHKD’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is the region’s largest and most experienced critical care facility for infants, children and adolescents suffering from acute, life-threatening illnesses and injuries. 
  • CHKD operates the region’s only level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with 64 beds for the most critically ill newborns in the region, including infants transferred from military facilities and lower level NICUs at other hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina. 
  • A specially trained Transport Team of nurses, respiratory therapists and paramedics experienced in the care and movement of critically ill children and newborns bring patients to CHKD from area medical facilities in fully equipped mobile intensive care units. 
  • The Transitional Care Unit at CHKD was one of the first programs in the nation developed to facilitate the move from hospital to home for technology-dependent children. 
  • The Children’s Rehabilitation Unit provides the region’s only inpatient facility for the diagnosis and treatment of children with severe disabilities. 
  • CHKD has the region’s only pediatric surgery program, offering everything from the simplest outpatient procedures to complex orthopedic and heart surgery. 
  • CHKD is a teaching hospital, headquarters of Eastern Virginia Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics and its graduate training program in pediatrics.  

Outpatient Services 

The CHKD Child Abuse Program provides comprehensive medical and psychosocial services for the diagnosis and treatment of victims of child abuse and neglect. It helps coordinate investigation and intervention services of medicine, mental health, child protective services, law enforcement and prosecution. In fiscal year 2017, children made 4,650 visits to the program. 

CHKD's Childhood Cancer Program provides care for approximately 500 local children with cancer. Cancer care at CHKD encompasses children’s physical, emotional and educational needs and incorporates the whole family to help lessen the stress of coping with such a serious illness in a child. 

Community-based CHKD Health Centers – offering a variety of outpatient services, including primary care, specialty medical and surgical care and rehabilitative and diagnostic services – are located in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk and Newport News. 

The CHKD health and surgery centers in the Princess Anne region of Virginia Beach and the Oyster Point center in Newport News offer the region’s only dedicated pediatric ambulatory surgery centers. 

Children’s Specialty Group, a physician-owned, multi-disciplinary pediatric practice, provides treatment for patients in dozens of pediatric sub-specialties. 

CHKD Surgical Group provides general pediatric surgery, neurosurgery, urology, as well as pediatric cardiac, orthopedic and plastic surgical services. Children made 47,976 visits to CHKD Surgical Group in fiscal year 2017. Other surgical services available include: anesthesiology, craniofacial and genitourinary reconstruction, ophthalmology, otolaryngology and vascular surgery. 

CHKD Medical Group includes over 100 pediatricians providing primary care services in 29 locations throughout Hampton Roads, the northern neck and northeastern North Carolina. Children made more than 378,395 visits to the primary care pediatricians of CHKD Medical Group last year. 

CHKD Urgent Care offers the only pediatric urgent care in the region, serving children with urgent, but not emergent, medical needs at its centers at Volvo Parkway in Chesapeake, Loehmann's Plaza in Virginia Beach, Tech Center in Newport News, and the recently opened Landstown in Virginia Beach. Providers commonly see sore throats, fevers, sprains and strains, head injuries and other illness and injuries that need prompt medical attention. In fiscal year 2017, children made 52,151 visits to our urgent care facilities.  

The Children’s Health Line is a free service that helps locate a pediatrician or pediatric specialist for families and provides information on parenting seminars and workshops. 

History and Community Support 

CHKD was established in 1896 by the Norfolk City Union of The King’s Daughters, a group of community-spirited women, who wanted to provide medical care for indigent mothers and their children. They established a free clinic and visiting nurse service and in 1961 built King’s Daughters’ Children’s Hospital, with 88 beds and a variety of services. In 1979, the name was changed to Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters. Today The King’s Daughters number approximately 1,000 and provide financial and volunteer support to CHKD.