Children’s Hospital rolls out largest fundraising effort in history
February 18, 2015
Darius and Beth Rucker ask community to join in effort to build new hospital
CHARLESTON, SC – During the 5th Darius Rucker Big Band Concert Feb. 17, Rucker announced a $265,000 donation from concert proceeds to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Children’s Hospital. Rucker and his wife, Beth, accepted positions as honorary fundraising chairs for the campaign to build a new children’s hospital at MUSC. The new hospital is expected to open in 2019 on Courtenay Drive. It will replace the 28-year-old Children’s Hospital currently located on Ashley Avenue, providing space for more patients, expanded services and more spacious, family-centered amenities.
“It is such an honor to serve as chairs,” the Ruckers said in a joint statement. “Charleston is the most wonderful city and we feel privileged to live here. It’s our home and our community. MUSC Children’s Hospital is a very important part of Charleston and the great state of South Carolina. Our children deserve a world-class facility to match the world class care that already exists… it will take every single one of us to help, and no gift will be too big or too small. Our commitment is to ensure that rich or poor, every child who walks through the doors of MUSC Children’s Hospital will continue to get the very best care possible.”
Counting the night’s proceeds, Rucker’s Big Band Concert has raised nearly $915,000 since its inception in 2004.
MUSC Board of Trustees Chairman Don Johnson, M.D., welcomed concert goers and introduced a video documenting the possibilities for understanding, healing and recovering that go on in the hospital each day. He also shared the most current draft of the hospital’s exterior design, which will now go before the City of Charleston for approval. To build the $350 million hospital, MUSC must raise a down payment of $50 million. To date the new hospital has generated $14.7 million in support from the community.
On stage to accept the donation, MUSC President David J. Cole, M.D., FACS, thanked Rucker, Beth and the team for raising money on behalf of the new hospital. He invited Children’s Hospital ambassadors Zion Thomas, 14, and Emma Grace Bostian, 7, to present the Ruckers with hard hats and a special, kid-crafted design to remind them of their role in this new facility.
“Darius and Beth, and many others who step forward in these early phases, know the importance and meaningful impact of this project,” Cole said. “We must step forward with a vision that transforms how we provide health care in the future. This hospital will be a centerpiece for this family and patient focused vision. I am very proud of the community for its amazing support of the Children’s Hospital… it never hesitates to rally around the families and patients that we serve.”
For more information about supporting the new Children’s Hospital, visit imagine.musckids.org .
Imagine the Possibilities
The Children’s Hospital now requires a place that allows care teams with nationally-recognized outcomes and quality to take the next step in family-centered care delivery. Part of that concept means including parents in the design teams for the new hospital. More than twenty design teams each consist of a nurse, a doctor and a parent. With this imaginative approach, the goal is not to replicate what is done today, but to build on the Children’s Hospital’s success and transform care possibilities. To continue reading about this process, see Charlotte’s story and more at http://academicdepartments.
“We know that letting kids be kids allows them to get healthy faster. We know that families in many cases didn’t expect to end up at MUSC Children’s Hospital that day,” said Matt Wain, MUSC Medical Center chief operations officer and Children’s Hospital Steering Committee chairman. “It changed their life due to a horrific accident or a diagnosis in a doctor’s office that they hadn’t expected. It really comes down to helping families heal, opposed to singularly looking at just caring for their child.”
About MUSC Children’s Hospital
MUSC Children’s Hospital is one of the largest and most comprehensive pediatric medical centers in the Southeastern United States. Three Neonatal Nurseries provide Level II and Level III care for pre-mature and newborn term infants and we offer the only pediatric burn center in the state. Using a family-centered approach, families are not considered visitors, rather essential participants in care and decisions that affect the total healing of the child. Our extensive network of caring professionals, entirely devoted to the health and well-being of children, are driven by a commitment to adaptability and outcome accountability. Respect, dignity, information sharing, participation and collaboration are at the core of our culture. In 2012, our pediatric emergency department received a Level I trauma designation as a result of patient volume, skilled clinicians, and a multidisciplinary approach. U.S. News & World Report now ranks our pediatric heart program among the top 25 and our pediatric gastroenterology and nephrology programs among the top 50 in America. For more information about MUSC Children’s Hospital, visit MUSCkids.org or MUSChealth.
About Darius Rucker
Capitol Nashville recording artist Darius Rucker will release his fourth studio album, Southern Style, on March 31 featuring the current hit “Homegrown Honey.” The album follows True Believers which was released in 2013 and was Rucker’s third consecutive album to top the Billboard Country albums chart; Believers features the Platinum-certified, ACM and CMA nominated, GRAMMY award-winning two week No. 1 single “Wagon Wheel.” Rucker’s first two country albums, Learn To Live and Charleston, SC 1966 produced five No. 1 singles including “Come Back Song,” “This,” “Alright,” “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” and “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.” In 2009 Rucker was named New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards. He achieved a personal goal and childhood dream when he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on October 16, 2012. Home for the Holidays, Rucker’s first Christmas album, hit stores last October and features classics such as “Winter Wonderland,” “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Baby It’s Cold Outside” featuring Sheryl Crow, as well as new songs written by the country singer. To learn more about Darius Rucker go to www.dariusrucker.com.
