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Children's
Hospital Los Angeles and Costco Wholesale executives
celebrate Costco's $10 million gift to CHLA. In the
corporation's honor, CHLA named the second floor of its
inpatient tower, which houses CHLA's prestigious Heart
Institute, the Costco Wholesale Floor. L-R, Ted Samuels,
co-chair, Board of Trustees, Children's Hospital Los
Angeles; Katrina Wyhowanec, Costco regional marketing
assistant; Helen Yniguez, Costco regional marketing manager;
John Eagan, Costco vice president and senior general
merchandise manager; Bruce Greenwood, Costco senior vice
president and general manager; and DeAnn Marshall, MHA,
CHLA's senior vice president, chief development and
marketing officer. |
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Los
Angeles -
In what is the largest single corporate gift in the history
of Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), Costco Wholesale
Corporation has made a $10 million philanthropic commitment
to support the hospital's mission of delivering the very
best patient care to children in Southern California. In
honor of this gift, the second floor of the Marion and John
E. Anderson Pavilion, opened in June 2011, will be named the
Costco Wholesale Floor. Costco Wholesale, the hospital's
most generous corporate donor, has supported CHLA for more
than three decades.
"Costco Wholesale has been a significant
partner in our mission to create hope and build healthier
futures for the children of Southern California," says
Richard D. Cordova, FACHE, president and CEO of Children's
Hospital Los Angeles. "Costco's generous gift will directly
impact our ability to provide world-class pediatric care,
conduct ground-breaking medical research and train the next
generation of clinicians. It takes all of these things
working together to provide the life-giving and life-saving
programs that help the 104,000 children we treat annually at
the hospital."
Since 1983, Costco Wholesale has donated more
than $16 million to Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The
company's generosity has been made possible by a strong
partnership between its club members, employees, corporate
business partners and shareholders, all of whom contribute
toward the whole. Costco club members contribute at the
registers each May as part of the corporation's
in-warehouse, month-long fundraising campaign; Costco employees
volunteer their time to lead such efforts and engage the
members; Costco business partners fundraise for the hospital
at various charity events; and the corporation matches all
the gifts raised by each of these activities. Costco
Wholesale's commitment of $10 million over the next five
years will support CHLA's Children's Fund, which is
dedicated to the hospital's research and clinical care
programs.
"We at Costco Wholesale firmly believe in the
importance of quality and access. We live by our principles,
whether it's in providing our members with top-quality
merchandise at the most affordable prices or in supporting
one of the best pediatric healthcare providers in the nation
'Children's Hospital Los Angeles' in its mission to create
hope and build healthier futures for all kids," says Bruce
Greenwood, Costco Wholesale's senior
vice president, Los Angeles region. "This gift to CHLA
reflects our philosophy of being a responsible corporate
citizen by doing our part to improve the communities where
Costco operates and where its employees live and work.
Costco is proud to support Children's Hospital Los Angeles
and we look forward to continue to provide meaningful ways
for our members, staff and vendors alike to rally behind
such a vital cause."
The second floor of the hospital's Marion and
John E. Anderson Pavilion, which will bear the warehouse
club's company name, is home to CHLA's prestigious Heart
Institute, ranked among the best in the nation for pediatric
cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report.
The Heart Institute provides care for children of all ages
from the unborn to young adults with comprehensive
state-of-the-art treatment in a single location.
While its renowned staff of physicians,
nurses and technicians deliver the finest heart care to the
children of Southern California, the Division of
Cardiothoracic Surgery is also recognized for its surgical
innovations, some of which were pioneered at CHLA and are
now used across the nation to improve the lives of children
with heart defects. In addition, CHLA's esteemed cardiology
subspecialists draw referrals for care throughout the
western United States and Pacific Rim countries.
The CHLA Heart Institute holds special
meaning for CHLA's honorary guest and longtime patient,
Eileen Garrido, 15, an accomplished singer, CHLA Junior
Ambassador and founder of Beating Hearts Foundation, which
raises funds for hospitals that treat sick children,
especially those with cardiac illnesses. "I want to make
sure every child has a healthy beating heart," she says. A
month after Eileen was born in March 1999, she underwent her
first surgery at CHLA for Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital
heart condition. Her second surgery took place in 2000. In
June 2014, she underwent her third open heart surgery at
CHLA to receive a new pulmonary valve and to repair a
pulmonary artery. This surgery was performed by
interventional cardiologist Frank Ing, MD, FAAP, FACC, FSCAI,
chief of CHLA's Division of Cardiology, and CHLA
cardiothoracic surgeon Winfield Wells, MD. The surgery was
successful and Eileen is returning to school this fall and
continuing to lead her foundation and raise money for CHLA.
"I feel great and have more strength and energy than ever,"
she says.
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