GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – On Wednesday, officials with HSHS St. Vincent Children’s Hospital asked for the community’s support in helping put them over the hump financially in order to upgrade facilities and expand services.
The “Join the Fight” campaign, which is a dual-phase community-fundraising effort, has already raised $7 million in 16 months.
Officials are hoping to raise an additional $3 million, in order to reach their primary goal of $10 million overall, by the end of 2019.
“Today, we are asking our communities to join us in that fight and support this campaign that will allow us to take the exceptional care we’ve been providing for decades to an entirely new level, one that will enhance the care and experiences of our patients, their families and our dedicated providers,” explains Therese Pandl, President and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) – Eastern Wisconsin Division.
The purpose of the campaign is to raise funds, which will be used to upgrade facilities and also expand services at the HSHS St. Vincent Children’s Hospital campus.
Pandl says some of the facilities are long overdue for improvements and haven’t seen upgrades in decades.
“The 1980’s,” she says. “They definitely reflect a child environment, but it really needs updating.”
Dr. Jon Brandt, Chair of the Join the Fight Physician Committee, says in order to deliver exceptional care to the nearly 18,000 patients they saw last year alone, changes are necessary.
“Although we dedicate ourselves every day to do our best, we are surrounded by a facility that is becoming outdated,” he explains.
An upgrade in facilities could mean an expansion of services, which would prevent families from having to travel long distances to receive the care they require.
“The presence of HSHS St. Vincent Children’s Hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin ensures thousands of children, each year, can receive exceptional care close to home and reduces the financial and emotional burden of traveling to more distant cities like Milwaukee or Madison,” says Heidi Warpinski, Executive Director at HSHS St. Vincent Children’s Hospital.
A portion of the funds will go towards updating pediatric emergency care.
Specifically, that effort would include a new waiting room and play area for children, six new treatment rooms with new technologies, and a new nurse’s station.
The $7 million that has already been raised has allowed the hospital to begin construction on the pediatric emergency care unit.
“To all of you who have so generously stepped up to get us this far: We thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” says Bobbi Giles, Director of the HSHS St. Vincent/St. Mary’s Foundation.
The various updates to pediatric emergency care are on schedule to be complete by summer 2019.
The campaign will feature a second phase beyond the $10 million fundraising goal, but officials say that is still being strategically planned and details will be released at a future time.
For those involved, the effort isn’t being orchestrated to benefit them, but rather the children of the greater Green Bay area.
“Their families, before our families,” explains Dr. Brandt. “Your children, before our children.”
Officials say the transformation of emergency care, pediatric and pediatric intensive care, and Child Life would provide a huge benefit to Green Bay’s only children’s hospital.
“It’s not for us, but it’s for our children all across the region who depend on us,” says Pandl.
