LOS ANGELES, April 13, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will raise $500 million for new facilities as well as for endowment, program and annual support, according to an announcement by President and CEO Walter W. Noce, Jr. (April 12) at the annual meeting of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees in Palm Springs.
Mr. Noce said that Mr. and Mrs. John E. Anderson, of Bel Air, and Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Rose, of Pasadena, will co-chair The Campaign for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
"The one-hundred-plus year history of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is an ongoing story of how exceptional leaders advance and even transform a community," Mr. Noce said. "This hospital was founded at a time when few people thought a hospital for children was possible, let alone that it could evolve into one of the world's top pediatric facilities.
"Now, at the beginning of the hospital's second century, the commitment of our volunteer leadership to the children and families of Los Angeles - and children everywhere - has never been stronger," he said. "They know we have the very best people at Childrens - physicians and caregivers alike."
He said that the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees challenged themselves to raise $100 million from individuals, corporations and foundations during its Centennial Celebration, which ended Dec. 31, 2001. They raised $174,731,041.
Mr. Noce said that The Campaign for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles already has raised more than $309.8 million toward its $500 million goal.
"Children are America's most precious resource, and those who support Childrens Hospital Los Angeles have come to know the enormous value of its patient care, teaching, and research -- all of which make Childrens Hospital invaluable, not only to the people of Los Angeles but to children and families everywhere," said Walter B. Rose, who is co-chair of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees.
"Our Board of Trustees understands the intense need for substantial funds to expand our research facilities, endow important clinical treatment and research programs and build a replacement hospital to meet new seismic requirements," he said, "but, perhaps more importantly, provide state-of-the-art facilities to meet our patient care responsibilities well into the future."
On May 18, 2001, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles dedicated the $65 million Marion and John E. Anderson Building and Burtie Green Bettingen Surgery Center, state-of-the-art, child-friendly facilities that set the stage and the standard for surgical care.
The Anderson Building and Bettingen Surgery Center was the first component part in the strategic planning by the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees to prepare and support the hospital's mission in its "Second Century of Caring."
"The work being done here is absolutely vital," said Marion Anderson, co-chair of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees. "Childrens Hospital Los Angeles treats the most seriously ill and injured children in our community, teaches the next generation of pediatricians, and conducts research that will enable physicians to treat and cure pediatric diseases in the future.
"We believe we have set -- and continue to set -- the standard for pediatric medical care," she said, "not only in Los Angeles, but in the West and, increasingly, nationally and internationally."
Mr. Noce said that while other hospitals provide medical care to children in an adult setting, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is solely dedicated to caring for children.
"We will support this unique approach to caring for children by seeking an unprecedented $500 million in gifts from individuals, corporations and foundations," he said, "to keep Childrens Hospital Los Angeles at the vanguard of change in patient care, medical education and scientific research - to enter our second century offering incomparable clinical care, more medical breakthroughs, more cures, and more hope for children and families everywhere."
Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. It is one of America's premier teaching hospitals, training more young pediatricians than any other facility in California through its 70-year association with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. It is a national leader in pediatric research.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles treats more than 55,000 patients a year in its Emergency Department. It admits more than 11,750 children a year to the hospital, with nearly 50 percent of those admissions children under four years of age. There are more than 282,000 visits a year to its 29 outpatient clinics and laboratories, more than 10,500 visits at community sites through its Division of Adolescent Medicine. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is able to offer the optimum in multidisciplinary care, with 33 pediatric subspecialties and dozens of special services for children and families.
Training programs at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles include 250 medical students, 80 full-time residents and 65 fellows, who collectively reflect the diversity of the patient population and the city of Los Angeles. Those who receive their instruction in pediatrics at Childrens Hospital care for children in the community, throughout the United States and in countries as far away as Japan, Australia, China, Turkey and Israel. The RN Residency in Pediatrics, a six-month program, provides new nursing school graduates with a comprehensive guided clinical experience to prepare them for work in an acute care environment.
Today, physician-scientists at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles address the most vexing pediatric medical problems and discover important new therapies for children everywhere, including advances in cancer care, gene transfer, stem cell and organ transplantation and diabetes. The Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Research Institute, the largest and most productive pediatric research center in the western United States, now ranks fifth in the nation in federal funding for pediatric research at stand-alone pediatric facilities, including support from federal agencies, like the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control.
Since 1990, U.S. News & World Report has named Childrens Hospital Los Angeles one of the top pediatric facilities in the nation and its panel of board-certified pediatricians has ranked the hospital the best on the West Coast.
Campaign Priorities
Facilities Goal $ 250 million
New Patient Tower $200 million
New Research Laboratory Building $ 50 million
Endowment and Program Support Goal $ 156 million
Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases $ 50 million
Research Institute $ 25 million
Heart Institute $ 20 million
Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism $ 11 million
Childrens Orthopaedic Center $ 10 million
Childrens Brain Center $ 10 million
Centers for Learning $ 10 million
Emerging Programs $ 20 million
Annual Support Goal $ 94 million
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Total: Goal $ 500 million
CONTACT: Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Steve Rutledge
(323) 669-4121