Naples philanthropist Tom Golisano announced the creation of the Golisano Children’s Alliance, committing $253 million in gifts to six new children’s hospitals.
Lee Health’s Golisano Children’s Hospital in south Fort Myers is one of four original Golisano-named hospitals now joined by six new partner hospitals under the Alliance.
Golisano made the announcement during a conference Oct. 28 at the Golisano Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship in Rochester, New York, marking a milestone as his lifetime giving now surpasses $1 billion.
In making the announcement, Golisano said he has been honored to help advance world-class pediatric care that the four children’s hospitals have been providing.
“Because of that success, I am proud to announce the newly formed Golisano Children’s Alliance,” Golisano told the crowd of about 350. “This is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between children’s hospitals that bear the Golisano name, dedicated to elevating pediatric care by expanding services, strengthening collaboration and ensuring that children have access to the highest quality medical attention close to them.”
He said the hospitals in the Alliance will remain independent but will meet at least twice a year to share research, training and best practices and to advocate together for improved pediatric health care nationwide.
“The Alliance is not about creating another organization: It’s about connection and action,” Golisano said. “The goal is to build a nationally recognized network of children’s hospitals that exemplifies excellence, dignity and innovation in pediatric health care.”
Lee Health’s Golisano Children’s Hospital serves a five-county region in Southwest Florida, including Collier County. It became the third hospital to bear Golisano’s name after his $20 million donation in 2012 helped fund the construction of the 135-bed facility, which opened in 2017.
Dr. Emad Salman, vice president and chief physician executive at Golisano Children’s Hospital, said Golsiano’s generosity has been “truly transformative”, and that the new Alliance will “help in the progression of great care for children.”
Dr. Emad Salman
Golisano Children’s Hospital
“We are creating a forum for children’s hospitals to get together to be collaborative and try to improve the quality of care, not just in Southwest Florida, but across the nation,” Salman said. “This will probably speed the process from discovery to implementation over time, whether it’s research that we can try to find answers to problems that face children or methods of delivery of care.
“And since we are one Golisano family, some of the barriers that organizations may sometimes have will be removed, so we can talk honestly without the thought that we are competing with each other.”
Salman said the area of research is a good example of how the Alliance’s “brain power” and collaborative approach could help improve care and outcomes.
“If you’re doing a research project as a single institution, it may take several years to be completed because you may not have enough patients that will be able to go to a clinical trial,” Salman said. “But now, with 10 hospitals, if we’re doing a clinical trial across those hospitals, we’ll be able to get answers a lot sooner.”
When asked what excites him most as a clinician about the opportunities the Alliance will offer, Salman said it’s the chance to break down barriers between organizations.
“Honestly, it is the opportunity to be able to collaborate freely without people having their guard up and being protective of their organization, and the fact that we can just sit down and discuss how we’re going to improve the lives of millions of children,” he said.
In addition to Lee Health’s Golisano Children’s Hospital, the other three original Golisano-named pediatric facilities are Golisano Children’s Hospital at University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York; and Golisano Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, New York.
The six new partner hospitals joining the Golisano Children’s Alliance and adding Golisano to their names include Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut, receiving $50 million; Penn State Health Children’s Hospital in Hershey, Pennsylvania, $50 million; University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, $50 million; University of Maryland Children’s Hospital in Baltimore, $50 million; University of Vermont Children’s Hospital in Burlington, Vermont, $25 million; and West Virginia University Medicine Children’s Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia, $28 million.
Last November, Golisano surprised 41 Southwest Florida nonprofits when he announced $85 million in grants supporting areas including health care, education, intellectual and developmental disabilities, community and animal welfare.