LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock-based Arkansas Children’s Hospital plans to tailor its fundraising pitch to every corner and region of the state, much as it has tailored its medical outreach to match their demands.
Earlier this month, the state’s only hospital dedicated primarily to children unveiled its $160 million capital campaign during its “100th birthday” celebration.
The Little Rock hospital is using its Century of Possibility Centennial Campaign as an opportunity to solidify its brand as the go-to pediatric hospital, not only for the cancer care, burn care and heart transplants it is known for, but also for primary and preventive care, education and research.
“The reality is that 95 percent of the children in the state who are diagnosed with cancer are going to be cared for here,” said John Bel, president of Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“Last year, we did 31 heart transplants. That is a record for us, and I believe is the largest volume anywhere in the country,” he said.
“So, we have in a small city, Little Rock, in a small state, Arkansas, one of the busiest pediatric centers in the country.”
The state’s philanthropist-rich northwest corner has been a strong player for Children’s for roughly four decades, Bel said. However, a decision was made to “coordinate rather than compete” when making decisions about pediatric care and devising fundraising strategies, he said.
On the services and programming side, Chief Operating Officer David Berry said, the hospital listened to what advocates in each area said it needed, rather than offering a standard solution for all.
“There’s not a single tool in any part of the state that is a one-tool-fits-all,” he said.
The hospital’s Centennial Campaign Cabinet and the foundation board both include members from outside the Little Rock area. Among them are Myrna Adams of Leachville, Ritter Arnold of Marked Tree, Marshall Ney of Rogers and Kirk Thompson of Fayetteville. Debbie Walker of Springdale has been involved with the effort in the past.
“We are going to be enthusiastic - and unashamed - to ask people from all over the state to help us with the campaign,” Bel said.
The natural tendency of doctors to gravitate toward patient-heavy markets has meant fast-growing Northwest Arkansas commanded a good bit of the hospital’s attention. According to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette archives, Little Rock pediatric specialists and subspecialists had been commuting to Northwest Arkansas for regional clinics since the 1980s to reduce families’ commute times.
Then in May 2007, Children’s, in partnership with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, gave the traveling clinics a centralized home with the opening of the Centers for Children in Lowell, and has been expanding its specialty care since.
The facility is but one example of a regional need that the Centennial Campaign has already addressed during its “quiet phase” between 2007 and March 5, during which it raised $100 million toward the $160 million goal.
Earlier, in September 2006, the hospital announced that John and Karen Flake, who have residences in both Little Rock and Fayetteville, had given $1 million toward development of a Children’s facility in Northwest Arkansas.
To date, Bel said, slightly more than $760,000 has been raised, both before and during the quiet phase, for the capital infrastructure costs of renovating the Primary Care Clinic space at the Centers for Children.
On Thursday, the facility’s traveling ear, nose and throat clinic was making good use of an operating microscope paid for with funds raised during the quiet part of the campaign.
Jamie Gaston, clinical director of the Lowell facility, said the microscope can be used during evaluations and to better see a patient’s eardrum during procedures.
With the public phase of the campaign, officials are looking beyond one-time capital investments and toward ongoing operational costs.
“We are now raising in excess of $300,000 per year for Centers,” Bel said. “These funds support program development and expansion of services.”
PRIMARY CARE NEED
Berry illustrated his point about the individuality of different corners of the state by talking about how Children’s had to stretch from its traditional role to address needs in Northwest Arkansas.
Historically, he said, “ We’venot typically provided primary care.”
That’s something that was usually handled locally, but in the northwest part of the state, circumstances were different, he said.
For much of the 1990s and into the next decade, the region grew rapidly.
In 2009, state Medicaid officials and the American Academy of Pediatrics found 7,000 children in Washington and Benton counties who had ARKids First health coverage but no primary-care pediatrician.
Those factors meant the need for primary care was great, and a significant Spanish speaking population meant the area needed bilingual providers as well.
The Centers for Children, which had begun as a way to give children access to pediatric subspecialists such as cardiologists, neurologists and others without the long car trips to Little Rock, opened its Primary Care Clinic in December 2010 with the first of four planned primary-care pediatricians, hospital leaders said at the time.
It has now expanded, boasting a full-time and a part-time general pediatrician, and an advanced practice nurse, said spokesman Hilary DeMillo.
HOSPITAL ENDOWMENT
As of Jan. 31, the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation endowment stood at $195 million, Bel said.
The nonprofit hospital receives about $8.8 million in state appropriations and about $3 million from a Pulaski County millage for its operations, he said.
In addition, for its Graduate Medical Education expenses of $11 million annually, which fund residency programs, Children’s receives about $6 million in federal funding.
A May 2009 bond issue, with a face value of $111,175,000, is being used for Children’s South Wing project and utility upgrade and relocation, Bel said.
A foundation spokesman, Kila D. Owens, said the Centennial Campaign had just surpassed $24 million raised toward the South Wing project.
The wing will add 258,000 square feet of space to the hospital in Little Rock, Bel said, and will increase the number of inpatient beds from 316 to 370.
This compares with 78 beds at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, according to the website of the hospital, which focuses on research and serves most patients on an outpatient basis.
Children’s research is also comprehensive, including studies of cancer, genetics and diabetes, its leaders said.
By giving to Children’s campaign, Berry said, “The money stays in Arkansas, for the benefit of Arkansas kids.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 03/26/2012