You’re the Difference Children’s Hospital Colorado is fueled by generous donors like you. Learn how you made a tremendous difference for kids this year.
Dear Friend, COVID-19 has changed so many things in our world: school, work, play, travel. Amid all of this disruption, we are comforted by the things that remain steady and true. One of the things that hasn’t changed is our community’s outstanding support for Children’s Hospital Colorado. As you will read on the following pages, donors rallied around the hospital and our caregivers early in the crisis, funding caregiver relief efforts, supporting new research to find a treatment for the virus and providing food to local families to make the lives of community members a little brighter during a global pandemic. It is with pride and gratitude that I share with you this report that highlights just a few of the many honors and accomplishments that philanthropy makes possible at Children’s Colorado. Through thick and thin, you have been there for us — and that means we can be there for the hundreds of thousands of children who come to us every year for hope and healing. Now, more than ever, we need and value your support. It is your generosity and partnership that will carry us through these challenging times and into the future. Thank you for helping us to achieve these milestones and so many more. Together, we are creating a healthier future for the children and families in our region and beyond. With gratitude,
JENNIFER ROE DARLING President and CEO Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation
Children’s Hospital Colorado Ranked Among the Very Best The numbers are in and, once again, Children’s Hospital Colorado has ranked among the best pediatric hospitals in the nation. According to the 2020–21 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Children’s Colorado earned the No. 6 spot among all children’s hospitals nationwide. Children’s Colorado also received high marks in all 10 ranked specialties. Seven of our specialties were ranked among the top 10 nationwide, including Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Surgery (No. 1), Diabetes and Endocrinology (No. 4), Pulmonology and Lung Surgery (No. 5), Cardiology and Heart Surgery (No. 6), Urology (No. 8), Cancer (No. 9) and Neurology and Neurosurgery (No. 10). “More incredible still is our team’s dedication and consistency — a tireless effort that keeps us among the best pediatric hospitals in the nation year after year,” said Jena Hausmann, president and CEO of Children’s Colorado and the Cille B. and Ronald W. Williams Endowed Chair in Executive Leadership. The rankings are the most comprehensive source of quality-related information on U.S. pediatric hospitals available. Hospitals are ranked based on clinical data and an annual survey of thousands of pediatric specialists, who are asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty. Thanks to the donors who generously support our hospital, we’re able to provide world-class care and the best possible health outcomes to every child who needs us.
“Kids really are incredibly different, and this is what different looks like.” JENA HAUSMANN President and CEO Children’s Hospital Colorado Cille B. and Ronald W. Williams Endowed Chair in Executive Leadership
Awards and Accolades
Expanding Mental Health Care: Because Kids Can’t Wait Even before the coronavirus pandemic, suicide was the leading cause of death for Colorado youth ages 10 to 24, and the number of children and teens coming to the Children’s Hospital Colorado Emergency Department for mental health issues was growing exponentially. To meet the community’s growing need, leaders of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Colorado devised an ambitious plan to substantially renovate the Gary Pavilion on the Anschutz Medical Campus to make their vision for increased access and more family-centered mental health services a reality.
Kate, Pediatric Mental Health Institute patient
Over the past three years, generous donors stepped forward in a significant way by donating more than $20 million toward the anticipated $22 million renovation project. Because of philanthropic support, on June 30, 2020, Children’s Colorado broke ground on this extensive remodeling and construction project. When finished, the new-and-improved Gary Pavilion will have expanded capacity and enhanced state-of-the-art healing and therapeutic spaces for our patients and families. “The community has rallied behind our efforts in incredible ways,” says Doug Novins, MD, Chair of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute and the Cannon Y. and Lyndia K. Harvey Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. “With this amazing level of support and attention, Children’s Colorado can make this resounding commitment that will have a real and lasting impact for our youth.”
Newly designed in-patient rooms will allow families to spend more time together — including adding a place where a parent can sleep in the same room as their child while their son or daughter is hospitalized. A new Family Respite Center will offer many amenities, including lockers, easy access to healthy food and places for relaxation and rejuvenation. “We are creating an environment that replicates a kid’s world, because we know that when they return to their home life, kids will adapt more quickly if the hospital mimics their everyday routines, like socializing with other kids and working with their family,” says Jason Williams, PsyD, Operations Director for the Pediatric Mental Health Institute. “That is really the core of our design — and it wouldn’t be possible without philanthropy.”
For more information about the Pediatric Mental Health Institute, visit PMHI.org
The renovated Gary Pavilion will provide enhanced spaces to promote healing.
Children’s Hospital Colorado on the Front Lines of COVID-19
Hospital Heroes In times of crisis, our health care heroes rise to the occasion. In May, U.S. News & World Report highlighted three very special caregivers at Children’s Colorado:
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges, but the generosity of our community has been equally as unprecedented. Over the past several months, donors have given more than $3.3 million for our COVID-19 relief efforts. These critical funds have made a tremendous difference for our front line caregivers, patient families and the broader community by providing: • Personal protective equipment: Donors provided critical funds for personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectant and other supplies to keep our caregivers and patients safe and protected. • Food for families in need: Thanks to donors, Children’s Colorado was able to quickly mobilize after schools closed to provide food for kids in need. Donations funded a mobile food pantry that provided healthy groceries and supplies for 400 low-income families every week. • Emergency hardship fund: Using 100% private donations, Children’s Colorado established a fund to award emergency grants to staff experiencing extreme and sudden financial loss related to COVID-19.
• Kyle Annen, DO, Medical Director of Transfusion Services and Blood Patient Management, for devising a way to quickly gather and distribute the plasma of COVID-19 survivors as an emerging treatment option for adult patients battling the novel coronavirus.
• Care for caregivers: Thanks to donors, we’ve distributed care packages, healthy snacks, groceries and meals to doctors and nurses coming off long shifts. We’ve also established resiliency initiatives, including emotional wellness checks and other mental health resources designed to keep our staff well in mind, body and spirit. • Mobile testing center: Hyundai Hope On Wheels® donated $200,000 to establish a drive-thru COVID-19 testing center on the Anschutz Medical Campus for pediatric and front line health care workers.
“The community sent a strong message of support to our heroic nurses and other front line caregivers at an especially difficult time” HEATHER FITZGERALD A registered nurse and Director of Resilience, Ethics and Wellness at Children’s Colorado and the Children’s Hospital Colorado Chair in Pediatric Nursing
• Jessica Hawks, PhD, Clinical Director of Outpatient Services for the Pediatric Mental Health Institute, who orchestrated a rapid transition from in-person to telemental health appointments to serve young people who require ongoing mental health services.
• Pat Givens, DHA, Chief Nursing Executive and the Dr. Dori Biester Chair in Pediatric Nursing, who earned the nickname “PPE Patty” for her efforts to prevent shortages of vital personal protective equipment during the peak of the pandemic.
Family’s Gift Fuels Groundbreaking Cancer Research At Children’s Hospital Colorado, we envision a world without cancer — a world where all our patients have the chance to live the healthy, hopeful future for which they are destined. Research is the key to defeating pediatric cancer, and donors are the fuel that makes our groundbreaking research possible. Along with his family, R. David Hoover, Chair of the Children’s Hospital Colorado Board of Directors, has established an endowed chair to propel pediatric cancer research forward. The Hoover Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and Innovation aims to keep Children’s Colorado at the forefront of pioneering new treatments for young Dr. Meg Macy with brain cancer patients. tumor survivor Myers
“There is so much good research that is going on at Children’s Colorado, drug trials and other exploration,” says Hoover, “but funding from the chair can also be used for software and ‘back office’ investments that will make running clinical trials faster and more efficient and lead to long-term productivity.” The inaugural chairholder is Margaret “Meg” Macy, MD, the Director of Clinical Research at the Children’s Colorado Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. She also leads the Experimental Therapeutics Program, and her team is dedicated to bringing novel treatments and early-phase clinical trials to children with particularly complex or recurring cancers that haven’t responded to standard therapies. “Experimental therapeutics are the cutting-edge of oncology,” says Dr. Macy. “We’ve made some exciting advances over the past decade. I really want to forge ahead and discover new therapies.” Cancer is the No. 1 cause of death by disease in children. And yet, because the pediatric population is smaller — and many childhood cancers and blood disorders are rare — pharmaceutical companies are less motivated to fund research studies for new drugs targeting childhood cancers. This makes private philanthropy vitally important as our researchers work to fulfill our vision of a world without cancer. For Dr. Macy, the only thing more exciting than advancing new cures in the lab is to see the direct impact of the research on her patients. She recalls one patient who had a neuroblastoma tumor that wasn’t responding to surgery or chemo. Next steps were unclear. Then Dr. Macy put the patient on a new drug as part of an early clinical trial. The tumor finally started shrinking, and today the child is doing ballet. “When I have a patient come in, and I get to put up a scan that shows the cancer has disappeared, there’s nothing better than that in the world,” says Dr. Macy.
“I will do whatever I can do to help more kids live longer, healthier lives.”
DR. MEG MACY Hoover Family Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and Innovation
Gift Makes Donors Feel ‘Less Helpless’ Jack was diagnosed with epilepsy on his 13th birthday. Now in high school, he can’t drive and has to take precautions when skiing, swimming or participating in other activities. He has seizures without warning, but they don’t slow him down for long. He is resilient and funny and remains very optimistic about everything. Over the years, Jack and his family have struggled with traditional epilepsy medications. “Some work for a while but then become ineffective,” says John Kavas, Jack’s father. “It is a merry-go-round.”
Julie and John
Convinced that medications simply treat the symptoms of the disease and mask the problem rather than offering a true cure, John and his wife, Julie, knew that there had to be a better way.
That better way, in their mind, is research into the genetic basis for some types of epilepsy. Early in 2020 they met Scott Demarest, MD, a pediatric neurologist at Children’s Colorado who is trying to understand both the “why” and the “how” of the genetics of epilepsy. Whole-genome sequencing of a patient’s DNA can help clinicians answer the question, “Why does this child have epilepsy?” But, even for the genes identified as causing disease, researchers don’t always know how the gene is malfunctioning, says Dr. Demarest. “If we know what is disrupted at the cellular level, we can look at whether that is something that we could target and try to fix with therapeutics,” he says. Research can be complicated and time-consuming, but the Kavases’ gift enabled Dr. Demarest to hire research and administrative support to help move his work forward more quickly. Without the Kavases’ help, “it’s just me trying to do it on my own,” says Dr. Demarest. The Kavases hope that their gift will lead to a cure for epilepsy. “You never know what little bit of funding could be the catalyst for something exciting,” says John. “This gift makes us feel a little less helpless.”
Colorado Springs Hospital Celebrates a Year of Serving Kids On May 28, 2020, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs celebrated its one-year anniversary. The 294,000-square-foot, 115-bed facility is southern Colorado’s first pediatric-only hospital. In the first year since opening its doors, the new hospital served more than 19,900 patients from 54 Colorado counties and 43 states. The Emergency Department had more than 20,200 visits, and the hospital also performed more than 4,000 surgeries in its operating rooms, which are designed specifically for children. “The milestones we have reached this year truly demonstrate the need we have been able to help meet to improve the physical and mental health for children in our community,” said Margaret Sabin, president of Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Southern Region. The new hospital means kids in southern Colorado can now access the expert care they need, closer to home — and that means families can stay together when it is the most important. Philanthropy fueled the opening of this new hospital, and it continues to propel Children’s Colorado, Colorado Springs into the future. Thank you for helping southern Colorado children get the expert care they need, right in their own backyard.
Dalilah, Children’s Hospital Colorado Patient Ambassador
Patient Ambassadors Give Back Earlier this year, Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation announced its new class of Patient Ambassadors. Nominated by their communities and caregivers, the 26 patients selected for this honor have displayed extraordinary strength and courage in the face of tremendous medical challenges. They have endured more surgeries, setbacks, struggles and hospitalizations than most people experience in a lifetime. And yet, despite everything they have been through, these kids and teens want to give back to help other patients. During their two-year commitment, Ambassadors and their families share their stories, represent Children’s Colorado at events and help to fundraise for the hospital. All Ambassadors have created a personal crowdfunding page to raise money for an area of the hospital that is meaningful to them. Collectively, they have already raised nearly $36,000 to support Children’s Colorado — and that’s in under nine months. Leading the pack is Noah, a 4-year-old Ambassador who has raised more than $7,000 for neonatology research. Noah was born with a rare birth defect and had a 20 percent chance of survival. After several surgeries and 10 months in the hospital, Noah was finally able to return home to Illinois, where he is making incredible strides. “No other hospital is better equipped to care for our son. When we come to Children’s Colorado, we have peace of mind, knowing Noah is in the best hands,” said Noah’s dad Warren. Our Ambassadors’ stories of resilience remind us why your support is so impactful. They personify perseverance, and we couldn’t be prouder to have them representing Children’s Colorado.
To read more about our Ambassadors’ stories, go to ChildrensColoradoFoundation.org/ambassadors
Award-winning Asthma Program Keeps Kids Healthy Through Outreach and Prevention The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recognized Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Asthma Program with a National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management. It’s a notable honor, as Children’s Colorado is only one of two hospitals in the country to earn the distinction this year. Created in 2006, Children’s Colorado’s Asthma Program offers a holistic approach to asthma management that extends far beyond our hospital walls. Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, but it can’t be effectively treated in the hospital’s outpatient clinics or emergency department alone — it needs to be addressed through prevention and education in homes, schools and everywhere that children live their lives. An interdisciplinary program, the Asthma Program works across the continuum of care, from the community to the clinic to the emergency department and hospital, to treat and support children with asthma, as well as their families. The program includes physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, patient navigators and health educators who work in the community with the families served by Children’s Colorado. Children’s Colorado partners with primary care providers, schools, county health departments and community organizations to help children and families to reduce exposure to indoor irritants, like secondhand smoke and allergens from house dust mites, pests, mold and animals. This can mean anything from professionally cleaning rugs to fixing leaky pipes and remediating mold. With the help of our community partners and generous gifts from donors, Children’s Colorado is a national leader in keeping asthmatic children healthy and out of the hospital. And we couldn’t do it without friends like you who support us.
Children’s Colorado is only one of two hospitals in the country to earn the distinction this year.
‘You Always Have Something to Share’
Dr. Rebecca Hoeck, PT, DPT, with Jan and Clark Hastings
Jan and Clark Hastings live by the motto, “You always have something to share.” After successful careers in project management and wholesale sales, the couple has been sharing their time with local nonprofit organizations, and recently decided to include Children’s Hospital Colorado in their estate plans. The Hastings have been loyal annual donors to Children’s Colorado since early in their marriage, and they recently documented a significant unrestricted bequest to meet the “greatest needs” of the hospital in the future. “We trust Children’s to make the money work in the best possible way,” says Clark. As full-time volunteers with their local food bank for 13 years, Jan and Clark saw firsthand the needs of families in their area. “We saw hundreds, actually thousands, of families whose kids needed medical care, but they couldn’t afford it,” says Clark. “Children’s Colorado doesn’t turn anyone away. It was a real lifesaver for the families at the food bank.” It is important to Jan and Clark that Children’s Colorado is always there to help all children, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. “There is so much inequity in who has access to health care,” says Jan. “We want to help people who are struggling financially, so that their children can get the highquality care that Children’s Colorado provides.” Clark sums it up this way: “Since we couldn’t have kids, we made the decision that we would help other kids, and Children’s was a perfect fit.”
For more information visit: bit.ly/CHCF-GiftPlanning
Endowments Make a Global Impact Dr. Edwin Asturias is the Jules Amer Chair in Community Pediatrics and a world-renowned expert in infectious disease. In keeping with Dr. Amer’s legacy, the focus of the chair has always been on serving the sick and the poor. Recently, Dr. Asturias has been advancing those goals on the international stage by leading COVID-19 response efforts abroad.
Dr. Edwin Asturias
Originally from Guatemala, Dr. Asturias trained at Children’s Hospital Colorado as a resident. He then returned home and helped to establish Guatemala’s first National Epidemiology Center. In 2011, he joined the Children’s Colorado Infectious Disease team to support the hospital’s global health efforts. This year, Dr. Asturias was asked by the President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, to return to his home country on a temporary basis to help combat the coronavirus as Presidential Commissioner for COVID-19 Response. Dr. Asturias gratefully accepted the opportunity to serve his country. The Amer Chair was established in 2001, with Dr. James Todd as the inaugural chairholder. During his tenure as chair, Dr. Todd broadened his focus from infectious disease to epidemiology and population health. Dr. Asturias has continued that legacy through his work to address health inequities, taking on big-picture initiatives that improve child health on a broader scale. Support from donors — particularly in the form of endowments — enables Children’s Colorado to recruit and retain international thought leaders like Dr. Asturias who make an impact on children’s health locally and globally.
Thank you for bringing health, hope and healing to the patients and families we serve. We are so grateful for your support! ChildrensColoradoFoundation.org
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