Erlanger Health System Foundation has received transformational donations from two local families towards its $1.6 million goal for the purchase of two pediatric critical care transport vehicles. Both families were motivated by personal experiences to donate toward the purchase of the critical care transport vehicles.
Local business owner and father of two, Heath Haley, was born prematurely at a local hospital and had to be transported to Atlanta to receive a higher level of care shortly after he was born. He recalls hearing his father talk about following the ambulance carrying his newborn son to Atlanta and the toll the separation and uncertainly took on his family. Now an Erlanger Foundation Board Member, Mr. Haley felt a personal connection to this project, compelling him and his wife, Elizabeth, to help through their Haley Giving Fund. Their two healthy children are their motivation for donating, with the hope of giving children and families the resources needed to thrive and stay together during challenging times.
A potentially tragic event sparked the second donor’s gift. This past June, local auto dealer and Girls Preparatory School Board Chair, Clay Watson, along with his twin daughters, Clayton and Kennedy, were involved in a serious helicopter crash over a remote lava field in Hawaii. Although Clay’s daughter, Kennedy, sustained multiple serious injuries, everyone on the flight miraculously survived. Kennedy was treated in Hawaii before being transported home to Chattanooga where she underwent additional surgeries at Erlanger. She made a full recovery, just in time for her and her sister to start college together this past fall. Feeling a personal connection to the project, Mr. Watson knows first-hand the essential resources needed during an emergency when it involves getting children the care they need at a moment’s notice.
Director of Major and Planned Gifts for Erlanger Foundation, Stefanie Wittler-Beavers said, “We are incredibly grateful for the Haley and Watson gifts and continue to seek the community’s support in completing this special, much-needed project. Due to their significant charitable gifts, along with recent proceeds from the Children’s Classic Golf Tournament and gifts from other individuals, Erlanger has raised more than half of the funds needed to buy the two critical care vehicles. These vehicles will serve as symbols of hope throughout our region, and will save hundreds of young lives a year.”
Erlanger Foundation is currently raising funds to support the Pediatric Critical Care Program at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, which will include the purchase of two pediatric critical care transport vehicles, a $1.6 million project. These life-saving vehicles will provide important in-route-care for children of all ages throughout the region who need to be transported to Children’s Hospital at Erlanger for the highest level or trauma and NICU care in the region. The vehicles will serve as a mobile ICU, bringing the hospital to the patient when time is of the essence.
Erlanger’s Neonatal Transport Team – made up of neonatologists, pediatric intensivists, ICU nurse practitioners, ICU registered nurses, pediatric respiratory therapists, and emergency medical professionals – is on call 24/7 to transport patients. In addition, the vehicles are large enough to allow parents or guardians to ride in the cab behind the driver, with the permission of the physician. Keeping families together and informed every step of the way is vital in the transport process, said officials.
For more information or if you would like to give toward this project, contact Ms. Wittler-Beavers, at Stefanie.Wittler-Beavers@erlanger.org or 778-2679. To make a direct donation, visit erlangerfoundation.org/give.