It is a government hospital. The Hospital for Sick Children, corporately branded as SickKids, is a major pediatric teaching hospital located on University Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Toronto.
The hospital’s Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning is believed to be the largest pediatric research tower in the world at 69677.28 square metres. Founded in 1875, the hospital was inspired by the example of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Medical treatments at the hospital are covered by publicly funded health insurance, as is the case in most other Canadian hospitals. Philanthropy is a critical source of funding for SickKids Hospital that is separate and distinct from government and granting agencies. In 2006/07, financial support from SickKids Foundation to the hospital totalled $72.1 million.
The support went towards infrastructure and support for physicians, researchers and scientists who compete for national and international research grants. Next to government, SickKids Foundation is the largest funding agency in child health research, education and care in Canada.
The Foundation maintains a fund, called the Herbie Fund, for patients not covered by Canadian health insurance. The fund was established in 1979 to provide for the treatment of Herbie Quiñones, a seven-month-old patient from Brooklyn, New York.
The research that led to the discovery of insulin took place nearby at the University of Toronto and was soon applied at the hospital.
Doctor Frederick Banting, one of the researchers, had served his internship at SickKids Hospital and went on to become an attending physician there.