Children’s Hospital Receives Funding from Local Campaigns

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Golisano Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers, which held a topping out ceremony in September, received a pledge from Southwest Florida Children’s Charity for $5 million. This pledge, which comes after the completion of the charity’s first pledge of $10 million, will support the ongoing construction of the new, state-of-the-art children’s hospital. Lee Memorial Health System started fundraising and planning the hospital in 2010. According to Florida-based News Press, $92 million has been raised as of September through the support of local residents and businesses, and the local campaigning has continued to work to secure more funding.

“The mission of Southwest Florida Children’s Charities Inc. continues to focus on advancing the health care services for children throughout our five-county region and Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida will be the main beneficiary of our support,” said Debbie Toler, board member, Southwest Florida Children’s Charities Inc.

The charity holds an annual Southwest Florida Wine & Food Fest event to raise money for the advancement of health care, and its event this year donated 100 percent of the proceeds to the Golisano Children’s Hospital as well as to Florida South Western State College and Florida Gulf Coast University for scholarships for local students pursuing degrees in health sciences, according to Southwest Florida Children’s Charities Inc.

Construction, which has been underway for nearly two years, is set to be complete in early 2017. The new Golisano Children’s Hospital will replace a 98-bed health center housed within the Health Park Medical Center and will be a 128-bed facility. The hospital will include upgraded medical equipment and a specially trained team of medical care providers, according to News-Press. The 292,000-square-foot hospital will be able to expand to 160 beds in the future, when needed. The $244 million project is set on the Health Park campus and will be dedicated to pediatric care.

Lee Memorial Health System said that the new hospital is needed to accommodate growth in the local community and to prevent children from being transferred to outside facilities far from home. The facility has become a community project through fundraising and campaigning. “The vision and translation of the dream into a children’s hospital has been inspired by our patients, our community, our clinicians and our physicians,” said Dave Kistel, the health system’s vice president for facilities management at the topping off ceremony. “This long-awaited journey is now being transferred into a community treasure.”