It all started in 1997 when a local kindergarten class created a
colorful Noah’s Ark collage.

Richmond pediatrician, Dr. Bob Archuleta, purchased the vibrant piece at a school auction and displayed it in the waiting room of his busy practice. Motivated by the daily compliments from patients, Dr. Archuleta decided that something more should be done with this inspiring piece of art.

At a “meet the artists” gathering to celebrate the children’s creativity, Dr. Archuleta spoke with the children as he handed each of them a print of the original collage. He told them he liked the prints as much as the original and suggested that additional prints be made and sold in the community. He asked the children what they should do with any funds that might be raised. One child raised his hand and said the money should go to help “sick children” and another suggested “dying children.” Dr. Archuleta promised the children to do just that, and six months later Noah’s Children Hospice and Palliative Care was a licensed program. The inspiration of these children, and the absence of a pediatric hospice in the Richmond area, was the impetus to establish Noah’s Children.

Today, Noah’s Children continues to serve a critical need as the first and only pediatric hospice and palliative care program in Central Virginia and one of the first in the United States. Although Noah’s Children became a program of Bon Secours Richmond in 2007, patients come from all of the major health care systems in Central Virginia, including HCA Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University.