About Cycle for Life

Cycle for Life supports Floating Hospital for Children's Cancer Center and its renowned Child Life Services Program.

The pediatric cancer program at Floating Hospital for Children offers complete hematology and oncology services for children. Floating Hospital physicians have developed novel protocols for the aggressive treatment of cancer, including autologous bone marrow transplantation and new approaches to administering chemotherapy. Floating Hospital for Children's Cancer Center stresses a team approach to the management of pediatric cancer patients, working closely with pediatric surgeons and radiation oncologists. The Center has received national recognition for its innovative patient and family support programs and provides state-of-the-art cancer treatment. For medical questions or support, you can reach the Center directly at 617-636-5535.

Floating Hospital for Children's Hematology-Oncology Child Life Program offers unique, nationally recognized services. This program has been featured on 'Good Morning America' and lauded for its innovative approach to therapy. Child Life Specialists help young patients cope with the stress of serious illness. Floating Hospital's Child Life Specialists assist children and their families in coping with the effects of chronic illness and hospitalization by supporting them before, during and after medical procedures. Child Life Specialists provide art, games, toys, books, videos and computers during clinic visits to put our youngest patients at ease.

About Tufts Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children

Tufts Medical Center is a world-class, not-for-profit, 415-bed academic medical center that is home to both a full-service hospital for adults and Floating Hospital for Children. Located in downtown Boston, Tufts Medical Center offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services for adults and children and is the principal teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine.

Founded in 1796 as the Boston Dispensary, Tufts Medical Center is the oldest permanent medical facility in New England and one of the first hospitals in the nation. For more than 200 years, Tufts Medical Center has pioneered innovative programs in clinical care, biomedical research, education and health care delivery.

Floating Hospital for Children began as a hospital ship that sailed Boston Harbor from 1894 to 1927. Rev. Rufus Tobey believed fresh air, especially sea air, was beneficial to good health. Rev. Tobey established Boston Floating Hospital with a boat full of sick children, their mothers and siblings, in July 1894. The care was free and by the end of the first season more than a thousand children had been treated.

In the mid-1920's, the Floating Hospital opened its On Shore Clinic. By 1927, Floating was a full-service pediatric hospital and a teaching affiliate of Tufts University School of Medicine. Today, Floating provides a full range of state of the art inpatient and outpatient services in every area of medical specialization. Floating is also home to the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, certified as a Level I regional pediatric trauma center by the American College of Surgeons.