Claflin & Fort Valley State make tournament debut with visit to the Children’s Hospital of Birmingham Harry "Trae" Stinson III 03/04/09 Birmingham, AL – The annual Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament began today in grand fashion with the top teams within the conference taking a few minutes to visit with children at the Children’s Hospital of Birmingham. Claflin University men’s team joined Fort Valley State University women’s team with a grand visit. The student athletes took a tour of the hospital, visited kids, read stories to children all over the hospital. Towards the end of the event the teams passed out t-shirts, bags, coloring books, pens and more items provided by the NCAA’s mascot JJ Jumper. Once the children received the gifts the waiting room near the lobby of the hospital turned into a frenzy of autograph sessions and picture taking. The hospital’s Community Activity Assistant, Cayleigh Cummings, chimed in stating “we truly enjoyed having the SIAC teams, Claflin and Fort Valley State coming in to visit our children. They really enjoyed the day and brought a smile to many of the faces of the children, providing them with positive memories. The SIAC provided the children, parents, and some staff with tickets to come and watch Claflin and Fort Valley State play at the SIAC tournament. Both teams will be in action on Thursday, March 5, 2009. Children's Health System is an integrated child health care network dedicated to providing comprehensive pediatric expertise for the children of Children's Hospital is a private, not-for-profit hospital governed by a volunteer board of trustees. Children's is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Alabama School of Medicine and the UAB Department of Pediatrics. With this affiliation, we have full-time faculty physicians as well as private physicians who provide care for your child. Some of the people caring for your child are residents who have graduated from medical school and work in cooperation with and under the supervision of the medical staff.  Children's Hospital of Alabama is the 10th busiest pediatric medical center in the United States. Located in Birmingham, Children's is one of only about 45 freestanding acute care hospitals of its kind in the nation and the only hospital in Alabama dedicated solely to the care and treatment of children. It is licensed for 275 beds.  Children's is home to the state's only Level I pediatric trauma center, the only pediatric renal care center, the largest pediatric burn center in the Southeast and is one of the largest pediatric outpatient centers in the nation. The UAB Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Children's Hospital is Alabama's single largest provider of specialized pediatric services for all forms of cancer, leukemia, brain and spinal cord tumors, hemophilia and other blood disorders and sickle cell diseases. Children's treats 95-percent of the children in Alabama diagnosed with childhood cancers and other blood disorders, and offers the only pediatric bone marrow transplant program in the state.  Children's is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The hospital was recently recognized for the excellence of its nursing care by achieving Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Children's will celebrate its centennial anniversary in 2011.  For more information on the Children’s Hospital of Birmingham please visit www.chsys.org.