Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Receives Anonymous $20 Million Donation to Renovate Emergency Department and Increase Care

LOS ANGELES -- In one of the largest donations in the history of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), an anonymous donor has made a generous gift of $20 million to expand the care provided for children in the hospital’s Maurice Marciano Family Foundation Emergency Department and Trauma Center (ED), which supports nearly 90,000 pediatric patient visits annually.

“We are filled with gratitude by the generosity of this transformative gift,” says Children’s Hospital Los Angeles President and CEOPaul S. Viviano. “The Emergency Department at CHLA serves one of the largest and most diverse pediatric populations in the nation, and we believe that every child should have access to quality pediatric experts and expertise. With demand for services growing every year, we will be able to make needed enhancements to continue providing transformative, family-centered care for the children and families who depend on us.”

“We want to extend our sincere thanks for the donor’s generosity and commitment to ensuring the health and well-being of the most vulnerable members of our community,” says Alexandra Carter, MBA, CFRE, senior vice president and chief development officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “Philanthropy is crucial to support the unparalleled work we do every day at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. This donation will increase CHLA’s capacity to provide care and increase access to high-quality care in the ED for generations to come.”

Highlights of the renovation include:

• Expansion of the waiting room.
• Eleven new patient bays (increasing patient capacity by 30 percent).
• High-tech cardiopulmonary monitors.
• Electronic medical record monitors.
• Remodeled nursing stations to enhance team-based care.

“With the new space and technology, the department will increase its capacity to deliver safe, innovative care, improve workflow and reduce wait times for patients, while also training the next generation of pediatric emergency medicine specialists,” says Alan L. Nager, MD, MHA, director of Emergency and Transport Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Opened in 2011 as part of the state-of-the-art Marion and John E. Anderson Pavilion, the ED was originally constructed to handle 65,000 patient visits annually; today, it is operating beyond this capacity, managing nearly 100,000 patient visits each year. With 44 percent of CHLA’s inpatients admitted through the ED, the enhancements are critical for the well-being of patients and saving lives of children stricken with the most serious illnesses and injuries.

“CHLA’s Emergency Department is a beacon of hope for thousands of families in some of their most vulnerable moments,” says Nager. “In 2016, CHLA launched an ambitious initiative to improve the ED patient experience by improving the speed of treatment while delivering the safest, highest-quality medical care. We saw immediate success with measurable results. Now, thanks to this momentous gift, we will be able to invest in capital, equipment and personnel to better support this improved model.”

Another critical addition, and key to the hospital’s long-standing commitment to family-centered care, is the creation of a dedicated Child Life team, whose members are certified and trained to prepare and soothe young patients during rigorous emergency procedures, communicate with anxious family members and guide clinicians on child-friendly care delivery methods.

The gift will also be used to purchase a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine for high quality imaging, which will be utilized hospital wide.

Construction is expected to begin later this year and normal ED operations will not be impacted as work will be performed in phases.

About Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Founded in 1901, Children's Hospital Los Angeles is ranked the top children’s hospital in California and sixth in the nation for clinical excellence with its selection to the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of children’s hospitals. Clinical care is led by physicians who are faculty members of the Keck School of Medicine of USC through an affiliation dating from 1932. The hospital also leads the largest pediatric residency training program at a freestanding children’s hospital of its kind in the western United States. The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles encompasses basic, translational and clinical research conducted at CHLA. To learn more, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, and visit our blog for families (CHLA.org/blog) and our research blog (ResearCHLABlog.org).

Media Contact: Lauren Song 
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles   
323-361-3614 | lasong@chla.usc.edu