"Just walking into the halls of Rainbow or Macdonald, there's such joy," DePompei said. "Despite how ill children can be they're still children. There's a natural joy even in the face of sadness that children exhibit and it spills out of all of them and makes us want to do better things for the children and the families."



DePompei, a lifelong Clevelander, said she is passionate about Northeast Ohio. Despite the region's declining population and number of births, the number of deliveries at Rainbow and MacDonald are growing because of the hospitals' "expertise in eshoppingoutlets.com caring for moms with chronic diseases," DePompei said.



The two hospitals have had the same president for the past five years. Michael J. Farrell left earlier this year to become president of Advocate Children's Hospitals in the Chicago area.