SALT LAKE CITY — A new national report ranks Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital among the best in the country — and behind those numbers are families like the Kreitzers.

For months, Margarite and Jason Kreitzer searched for answers. Their baby girl, Ruth, wasn’t eating, gaining weight or playing like most infants.

“She was sick all the time,” Margarite said.

They tried everything, from different treatments to feeding tests. But Ruth kept getting weaker.

“We had several sleepless nights,” Jason Kreitzer said.

One evening, a specialist called after hours to check in and asked more questions about the seven-month-old’s condition. She urged the family to go straight to the E.R. in St. George.

“That’s when they discovered her left lung was completely collapsed,” Margarite said. “She had a 45-minute cardiac arrest, and she had a stroke during that time and some seizures.”

Ruth was flown to Primary Children’s in Salt Lake City via Life Flight. There, a team of specialists placed her on ECMO — a form of life support — while they worked to determine the cause. The next morning, doctors told Margarite that Ruth had a rare congenital heart defect called Anomalous Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery, meaning the artery supplying blood to her heart was connected to the wrong vessel.

“Her heart was so weak, it was only like 15% working,” Margarite said.

She would need open-heart surgery to survive.

On Dec. 1, 2019, surgeons at Primary Children’s performed the complex procedure — an all-day operation. The surgery went well, but Ruth’s heart remained fragile. She stayed on ECMO, dialysis and oxygen for weeks.

Over the next two months, Ruth slowly began to recover. Her kidneys healed, her heart strengthened and nurses in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit began calling her their “Christmas miracle.” By January, she was strong enough to move to a regular floor.

On Feb. 4, 2020, Ruth was discharged and sent home with a medication drip to strengthen her heart. When they returned that April to have the line removed, the COVID-19 lockdowns had just begun, so Ruth celebrated her first birthday in the hospital.

Doctors told the family it would take about six months for her heart to recover — and they were right. Within that time, her heart function normalized, and the visits became less frequent. Because of her initial stroke and seizures, Ruth continues to receive therapies for speech, mobility and vision, along with neurology and rehabilitation support.

“That team up there is just top-notch,” Jason said. “We’re very grateful that we have Ruth.”

Ruth’s story unfolded in 2019, but hospital leaders say families like the Kreitzers — and the teamwork that saved her life — are the reason for the national recognition Primary Children’s is receiving today.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Intermountain Primary Children’s in the Top 25 nationally for six pediatric specialties — including cardiology, neurology and orthopedics — and in the Top 50 for all 11 specialties evaluated. The hospital’s cardiology program alone has climbed more than 30 spots in just five years, from No. 44 to No. 12.

“We really do want to be the model healthcare system,” said Bethany Marullo, administrative director of Primary Children’s Heart Center. “It’s great that the rankings illustrate the performance, but truly, we’re driving for the child and the family — to make sure that they have the very best outcomes they can.”

Marullo credits not only world-class medical teams and technology but also innovative programs like cardiac rehabilitation, which helps young heart patients safely rebuild strength after surgery.

“I’m really proud of programs like cardiac fitness that are advancing the way we provide care for kids,” she said. “It takes a village to build what we have. If you just walk the halls of Primary Children’s every day, you’re seeing magical interactions with our caregivers and these kids and families.”

Ruth Kreitzer is now six years old, a thriving reminder of what those rankings represent.

“We’re always indebted to Primary Children’s, to that fantastic team,” Jason said.

“It’s been a hard journey, but I would do it all over again because I know all the good things that have come from it,” Margarite added.

Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital ranked in the Top 25 in a record six specialties for 2025:

• Cardiology and heart surgery: #12

• Neurology & neurosurgery: #16

• Nephrology: #18

• Gastroenterology and GI surgery: #20

• Orthopedics: #22

• Urology: #22

The hospital also ranked among the nation’s Top 50 children’s hospitals in the following specialties:

• Behavioral Health: Top 50

• Cancer: #37

• Diabetes and endocrinology: #37

• Neonatology: #39

• Pulmonology & lung surgery: #42