LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Residents of the Coachella Valley have ". . . met and exceeded . . ." a $1 million 'challenge' made less than a year ago by the H. N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation, a private family foundation based in Palm Desert, to support the construction of the New Hospital Building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, according to officials from both the Berger Foundation and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has received $2,101,000 from residents of the Coachella Valley in response to the $1 million Berger Foundation 'challenge' on June 1, 2005, for a total of $3,101,000, as of Dec. 31, 2005.
The Palm Desert-based not for profit Berger Foundation, which strives to ". . . help people help themselves," 'challenged' the residents of the Coachella Valley to match its $1 million commitment to assist in raising $10 million to fund the fifth-floor of the New Hospital Building, which will be known as the "desert floor" of the hospital because of its desert motif. The floor will house the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases, one of the nation's largest pediatric hematology/oncology programs, as well as a general medical-surgical unit.
The New Hospital Building will be the finest medical and surgical environment for seriously ill and injured children anywhere in the United States when it opens in 2009. The New Hospital Building will also improve seismic performance to not only withstand a major earthquake, but also be fully operational after a major seismic event to meet the 2030 standard mandated by California law.
"The idea was to 'challenge' residents in the Coachella Valley to make a gift in support of the hospital, which is such an asset to this community and, in fact, the children and families of Southern California," said Berger Foundation President Ronald M. Auen. "We quite often like to make challenge grants because they double the amount of money an organization receives as the result of our commitment, and in this case, we are absolutely delighted with the results."
Children admitted to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles come from Los Angeles, Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties -- throughout California, the western part of the United States and around the world.
More than 400 of the sickest, most seriously injured children from the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas are treated at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles every year.
"This hospital plays an important role in our community," Mr. Auen said, "and we hope that our challenge will help the hospital continue the wonderful work it does to save and extend young lives."
"Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is able to make a difference in the lives of children and their families," said Childrens Hospital Los Angeles CEO Walter W. Noce, Jr., "because of the generosity of others.
"We are enormously grateful to the Berger Foundation for its ongoing commitment to our children and families," he said, "and, now, through its 'challenge' grant, to the residents of the Coachella Valley, to help us build what many believe will be the pre-eminent children's hospital facilities of the future."
The Berger Foundation was established in 1961 by Nor and Fran Berger to provide people with ". . . the opportunity to improve their own situations."
Mr. and Mrs. Berger had a desire to share their belief that anyone, no matter their status, can achieve their goals. She was a schoolteacher, and he worked as an accountant for an oil company. They borrowed $200 from a friend to purchase a residential lot for development in Santa Barbara. They built their first house, followed by several others, and eventually owned real estate and development firms throughout California.
The Berger's moved, from Santa Barbara to San Marino, where they expanded their interests into the banking industry. Over the years, the couple funded the construction of college buildings, established scholarships and included hospitals among their charitable projects. Today, the Berger Foundation primarily supports education, hospitals, medical research and social services in Southern California.
Mr. Berger passed away in 1988; Mrs. Berger three years later.
The Berger Foundation has supported Childrens Hospital Los Angeles since the early 1990s, and it is a national sponsor of Children's Circle of Care, a philanthropic society of 22 prominent pediatric hospitals in North America, including Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
The Desert Campaign Leadership Committee, part of the New Hospital Building Campaign Committee, is working in the community to raise $10 million to fund the "desert floor" of the New Hospital building. The committee includes Douglas and Melissa Allensworth, of Indian Wells; David and Travis Erwin, of Indian Wells; Lea Goodsell, of Palm Desert; Ron and Jane Gother, of Indian Wells; Douglas and Donna Martin, of La Quinta; John and Carley Pinkney, of Palm Springs; Michael Smith, of Rancho Mirage; and Dick and Judy Zeigler, of Palm Desert.
The New Hospital Building Campaign Committee is chaired by Entertainment Tonight host Mary Hart, a Big Horn resident, who is a member of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees and Chris Albrecht, chairman and CEO of HBO, whose seriously-injured daughter was airlifted and treated at the hospital six years ago.
"These new facilities have been years in the making and represent the collective thought of doctors, nurses, patients and their parents, architects and many, many others who have brought their unique perspective to the task -- to design facilities that will support the most advanced medical and surgical practice available, anywhere," said Mary Hart, whose son was successfully treated at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. "When we complete the construction, these facilities will enable us to meet our patient care responsibilities well into the future."
"There is enormous need for the expertise available at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles," Mr. Albrecht said. "Only if we support this remarkable place of hope and healing now can we ensure that the exceptional care for children we have come to depend on here in Los Angeles will be there when we need it most in the future."
The 460,000 square-foot, 280-bed New Hospital Building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will include an Emergency Department; imaging facilities; a Cancer Day Hospital, a 61-bed acute care Hematology/Oncology unit and a 14-bed Bone Marrow Transplant unit; a 24-bed Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit and a 21-bed acute inpatient medical heart unit; a 24-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit; and a 40-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which will house the Center for Newborn and Infant Critical Care. There will be 96 additional medical and surgical acute care beds.
It will feature spacious private rooms, designed with three distinct areas: a clinical area that will house sophisticated medical equipment; a family area that will include space for parents to stay overnight; and a patient area that will feature lighting and designs to help make children feel at home. Semiprivate rooms will be available for children who can benefit from social contact, often so important for children with chronic disease.
"From the state-of-the art facilities to healing gardens, the New Hospital Building at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will set the standard for medical care for years to come," Mary Hart said, adding that it will ". . . benefit the children of Greater Los Angeles, the Coachella Valley and the children of the world."
Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been treating the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital is one of America's premier teaching hospitals, affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine for more than 73 years. It is a national leader in pediatric research.
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles treats more than 58,000 patients a year in its Emergency Department. It admits more than 11,000 children a year to the hospital, with almost 50-percent of those admissions children under four years of age. There are more than 285,000 visits a year to its 29 outpatient clinics; more than 3,300 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 274 medical students, 84 full-time residents and 73 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 Internship Program in Pediatrics, a 22-week program that provides new nursing school graduates with a comprehensive guided clinical experience to prepare them for work in an acute care environment, has become a national model.
Investigators at The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles are working to create a world in which all children are healthy -- a world in which they are no longer threatened by such diseases as cancer, congenital heart defects, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, epilepsy, immune deficiencies and respiratory disorders. They ask basic questions about human biology, find new ways to see inside the body, explore genetic mysteries, develop promising drug treatments and test preventive strategies -- scientific inquiries that benefit both children and adults. The Saban Research Institute is among the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States, with 100 investigators at work on 251 laboratory studies, clinical trials and community-based research and health services. It is one of the few freestanding research centers in the nation to combine scientific laboratory inquiry with patient clinical care -- dedicated exclusively to children -- and its base of knowledge is widely considered to be among the best in pediatric medicine.
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