The Penn State Children's Hospital is one step closer to its goal of having its own building after a $1 million donation from Penn National Gaming, Inc.
Michael Stevens, a strategic services representative for the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, said Penn National Gaming, Inc.--a casino, riverboat and racetrack company--committed this summer to pay the donation over a five-year period.
Currently, Penn State's children's hospital is housed on the seventh floor of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and treats 125,000 patients each year.
The plan for a freestanding building to house the children's hospital was initiated a few years ago, Stevens said.
The project's fundraising goal is set at $65 million and with the new donation, $24 million has been pledged already, said Harold Paz, Penn State senior vice president for health affairs.
Paz said the project will be funded by a combination of gifts, grants, loans and university support, but at this point in time, the focus is on gifts through fundraising.
Peter Carlino, a Penn State distinguished alumnus and the chairman and chief executive officer of Penn National Gaming, serves on the Penn State Hershey Campaign Committee and on the medical center's Board of Directors.
"[Carlino] is really leading by example," Vice President of Public Affairs for Penn National Gaming Eric Schippers said.
When the children's hospital is built, a surgical waiting room will be named after Penn National Gaming as a sign of gratitude for its financial commitment, Stevens said.
Penn National Gaming also annually hosts a charity golf tournament in Hershey and donates the proceeds to the Carlino Fund for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research, which benefits research done at the Hershey Medical Campus, according to the press release.
PNC Bank and Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company also pledged donations in the earlier stages of the project.
Stevens said at this point, an official timeline for the project's funding or construction has not been put in place.
The medical center has not yet named architects for the project or specified a design plan.
"The building has to co-exist with the master plan for the campus," Paz said.
The children's hospital is one of two new buildings planned for the Hershey campus. The other will house the Penn State Cancer Institute, which will break ground on Dec. 1.
Paz said he hopes to see groundbreaking for construction of the children's hospital by next year.
In 2004, the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (Thon) pledged a $10 million donation over a period of six years to benefit the construction of a Pediatric Cancer Pavilion at the Hershey campus, Thon public relations chair Megan Kendrick said.
"It will be wonderful to see ground being broken," she said. "It will make treatment so much better for the children as they deal with a horrible illness."
