Primary Children's announces new building project

Gifts from Eccles Foundation and LDS Church Foundation support "The Child First and Always" capital campaign for facilities and research.

(Salt Lake City, UT) Primary Children's Medical Center Foundation publicly launched its first major capital campaign in 20 years, including plans for its new George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Outpatient Services Building, at a press conference April 22, 2010, at the hospital.

Lead campaign gifts of $3 million from the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation and $1 million gift from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation was announced in celebration of the hospital's historic move 20 years ago from the old Primary Children's building in the Avenues to the existing Primary Children's facility on Mario Capecchi Drive.

Funds raised through the campaign will support major capital and research projects, including a new outpatient services building to be built across the street from the existing hospital. The over $100 million addition to the Primary Children's campus, named in recognition of the Eccles Foundation's founders, George and Dolores Eccles, will create much needed space for the ever-increasing volume of patients and clinical needs at the hospital. Many of the clinics at Primary Children's will be moved to the new building, allowing inpatient services to expand and enabling Primary Children's to provide better care for its patients.

The Child First and Always campaign was launched last year with Primary Children's employees pledging more than a half million dollars in support. The major gifts announced Thursday, along with additional generous gifts from medical staff and board members, bring the campaign nearly halfway to its $20 million goal.

"This is a pivotal time in Primary Children's history," said Joe Mott, CEO of Primary Children's. "Contributions like these from the Eccles Foundation and the LDS Church Foundation are instrumental in our ability to progress, and to continue to provide the best pediatric healthcare possible. We are grateful for their generosity."

"We are pleased to be able to help 'jump start' this campaign with a lead gift that builds on the generosity of Primary Children's boards, medical staff and employees," said Spencer F. Eccles, chairman and CEO of the George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation and long-time Primary Children's Foundation trustee. "This much-needed new state-of-the-art facility will help ensure that parents in Utah and throughout the Intermountain area continue to have access to the finest in healthcare services for their children now and in the decades to come," he added.

"Children are one of God's greatest gifts," said H. David Burton, presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Helping them receive the medical care they need is a worthy cause, and we are pleased to make this contribution to Primary Children's Medical Center. So many have been blessed by the hospital's excellent care, and we want to see this continue far into the future."

Local business leader and Primary Children's Foundation Trustee Arlen Crouch will lead the committee raising the additional $10 million in private funding sought through The Child First and Always campaign. "Our campaign and these generous gifts are all about making the lives of children happier and healthier, he said. "Primary Children's Medical Center is part of what makes our community truly extraordinary.