U, Fairview embark on $175M campaign for children’s health
The University of Minnesota and Fairview Health Services have launched a $175 million campaign to support pediatric research, education, and care at the new home for University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital.
The campaign, led by the Minnesota Medical Foundation, already has raised $84 million — nearly half of its goal.
More than 400 people — including kids, parents, hospital staff, and community volunteers — celebrated the public launch of the children’s health campaign on September 25 with a family-friendly event. Children and adults alike decorated their own versions of the new hospital’s colorful exterior and made special cards and origami paper cranes for ill children in the hospital. Event attendees also had a chance to conduct their own science experiments, learn about what it’s like to be a medical student, and participate in heart-healthy Wii Fit activities.
University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital is Minnesota’s first and only academic pediatric hospital engaged in basic science, translational research, and leading-edge patient care.
Its new location on the University’s Riverside campus will bring together children’s and mothers’ services, which are currently divided by the Mississippi River. The new configuration is designed to enhance efficiency of pediatric care while capitalizing on the cross-specialty, multidisciplinary relationships for which the University has become known.
The 227,000-square-foot facility will feature 96 acute-care hospital beds, stateof- the-art medical/surgical units, a pediatric intensive care unit, and a dedicated pediatric emergency room, in addition to transplant services units and Minnesota’s only pediatric dialysis unit. Construction, which began in 2008, will be completed by March.
Leaders plan to celebrate the culmination of the children’s health campaign by 2015.
“Minnesotans understand the unique role that an academic children’s hospital has for our state and our kids and will support this campaign,” says Rich Ostlund, who chairs the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital Philanthropic Board. “Donors understand that kids don’t stop getting sick even in tough economic times.”
Learn more about how you can support the campaign and view photos from the kickoff event at www.uofmhope.org.
