About Primary Children's

The hospital moved to a new 70-bed building at 320 Twelfth Avenue on February 12, 1952. Efforts to build that expanded, modern facility had begun in the late 1930s, but the war years with associated shortages of materials and manpower delayed the project. Following the end of World War II, the Primary Association began a fund-raising drive under the dynamic direction of Frances Grant Bennett, mother of Utah's Senator Robert F. Bennett. One of the initiatives was a "Dimes for Bricks" drive, in which donors contributing ten cents had the satisfaction of knowing they had purchased one red brick for the new hospital. From their collective efforts, the Primary Association was able to pay half of the $1.25 million price tag, with general LDS Church funds paying the other half.

During the late 1950s, the medical community recognized the need for additional children's services. On January 1, 1961, the hospital officially expanded its services to include acute care. Building expansion brought the number of beds to 84, and the first pediatric specialty departments in the Intermountain West were established. Surgeries began to be performed at the hospital in the mid-1960s, although complex surgeries were still performed at LDS Hospital. In 1966, a new wing was completed, doubling the number of beds.

Another important chapter for the hospital occurred with the 1977 signing of an affiliation agreement for educational purposes between Primary Children's and the University of Utah School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics. The agreement formalized an arrangement that began in 1962, when pediatric resident rotations were established at the hospital. Primary Children's became an official teaching hospital, and the formal agreement opened the way for many additional medical specialties to be offered.

The hospital on Twelfth Avenue eventually grew to 170 beds. As demands on the hospital increased, discussions began regarding further growth. Many options were considered, but finally the decision was made to build a new facility on land leased from the University of Utah, adjacent to the School of Medicine.

Each year brings continuing change and progress to the hospital. During the years at the university campus, the medical staff has grown from 450 to more than 750. Heart, liver, and bone marrow transplants are routinely performed. Helicopters come and go several times a day, bringing the region’s sickest and most fragile children to the Intermountain West's only pediatric Trauma I center. The latest technological equipment provides physicians with diagnostic information undreamed of by earlier generations.

Thousands of individual children receive extraordinary care each year at Primary Children’s, provided in an atmosphere of love and concern.