2023 was a year of growth in every imaginable way for Children’s Hospital New Orleans, including programs, staff, partnerships, facilities and patients served.
It also celebrated new leadership. In February 2023 Lucio Fragoso became the hospital’s president and CEO. Fragoso was promoted to the role after serving as chief financial officer and chief administrative officer since joining Children’s in 2019.
“We don’t want any kid to have to leave Louisiana for their care,” said Fragoso, who hit the ground running.
Under Fragoso’s leadership Children’s earned verification as a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, making it the only verified pediatric trauma center serving Greater New Orleans, and one of only three in Louisiana.
Fragoso also spearheaded a partnership with the New Orleans Health Department to create a community program focused on gun safety. Led by trauma surgeons in partnership with local community advocates, the project has distributed 750 biometrically locked gun safes, and is about to add 400 more to that total.
“We see a lot of patients with accidental gunshots in the ER,” reported Fragoso, “which is entirely preventable. This is not a political campaign against guns, it is about educating families that have guns about gun safety.”
These community partnerships are a key focus for Children’s under Fragoso’s leadership.
“We have to take our care outside the four walls of the hospital,” he noted.
Fragoso also expanded the hospital’s “ThriveKids” program, which focuses on the mental health crisis facing children today. Along with serving public schools in Jefferson Parish, in 2023 Children’s added the entire New Orleans public school system to the program, thanks to funding from the City of New Orleans.
Now operating on 180 campuses and serving over 100,000 students, the program gives particular attention to suicide prevention.
“Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents,” Fragoso pointed out. “We provide immediate resources to kids in need.”
The breadth and excellence of the services at Children’s landed it a place on Newsweek’s Top Children’s Hospitals in the World list this year for the third consecutive year. A quaternary (comprehensive care) facility, the hospital sees approximately 170,000 patients per year, making a total of over half a million visits.
Yet Fragoso continues to focus on expansion. A new on-site care center is set to open in 2024 that will double the number of patients the hospital can treat at any one time. Continuing to add staff is another top priority.
“We serve the most vulnerable kids, and thousands more still need help,” said Fragoso. “We never say no to a child.”
