A medical center that sought to provide long-term care for Tucson children as they transitioned from hospital to home suspended its clinical services Monday.
Danville Children's Medical Center - a 34,000-square-foot pediatric, transitional-care hospital - opened in January at El Dorado Health Campus, 1400 N. Wilmot Road.
Upon opening, Danville representatives said the hospital would work with entire families, teaching parents and guardians how best to care for children struggling with illnesses.
About six months later, the medical center was running into financial problems.
On Sunday, it transferred its last remaining patient to another facility, said Administrator Jane Bakos.
The suspension leaves open the possibility that the medical center could once again offer care, but Bakos could not say when, or if, that might happen. The hospital had 46 beds and an average census of four patients, Bakos said.
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It had about 20 employees, primarily nurses, who will be laid off.
"Even with the great effort by our talented and capable staff, we have found ourselves unable to sustain our facility financially in the current economic climate," owner Bill Woolston said in prepared remarks.
Danville Children's Medical Center planned to provide care for children - from newborns to those up to 18 years old - as they left acute-care facilities such as Diamond Children's Medical Center at University Medical Center.
Those acute-care hospitals provide short-term treatment for patients with illnesses and injuries, or as they recover from surgeries.
Dr. Cleo Hardin, section chief for pediatric hospital medicine at the University of Arizona's College of Medicine, was the Danville hospital's associate medical director. An automatic email reply from Hardin received Monday said she was out of the office for a prolonged period during the summer.
The need for transitional care has increased as children survive illnesses that would have ended their lives prematurely in the past, Hardin said in an interview before the hospital opened.
Bakos said the need for that care still exists in Tucson, but filling the beds at Danville Children's Medical Center proved difficult.
It also takes time and money for a hospital to build momentum, and that proved difficult in the current economy, she said.
Contact reporter Dale Quinn at dquinn@azstarnet.com or 573-4197.