SALT LAKE CITY — Intermountain Healthcare’s plan to build the nation’s model health system for children has received more than $100 million in gifts from community leaders so far, according to a new release distributed Monday.
The money is helping to accelerate efforts to expand the clinical expertise of Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital to address the critical needs of kids throughout the Intermountain West.
In January, Intermountain announced plans to create the national model for children’s health.
The gifts include one of $50 million from Utah businesswoman, civic leader, and philanthropist Gail Miller and the Miller family, which was announced in January.
The new model contains three areas of focus:
Strengthen Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City with:
- Fetal surgery to repair birth defects in utero
- Groundbreaking genetic research to provide customized treatments for each child
- An expanded, modernized Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
- An expanded cancer treatment center to provide children with revolutionary treatments in an ideal healing environment.
Address children’s emerging health needs by:
- Enhancing services for young people suffering from depression, traumatic experiences, and other mental health conditions
- Attending to environmental factors that negatively affect children’s lifelong health (racism, poverty, housing and food instability) while promoting stable, nurturing relationships
- Ensuring kids with severe chronic health conditions have an opportunity to thrive as they become adults.
Extend care excellence across the Intermountain West by:
- Building a fully integrated Pediatric Care Network that enhances Outreach clinics and TeleHealth, establishes an Emergency and Trauma Network, and standardizes best practices and protocols across the Intermountain Healthcare system
- Bringing the power of Primary Children’s Hospital to Utah County with a second Primary Children’s Hospital campus in Lehi, Utah.
These ambitious goals will require an estimated $500 million which represents the largest commitment to the care and health of children throughout the Intermountain West since Primary Children’s was envisioned in the early 1900s.
