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Child with Mickey Mouse at Florida Hospital’s Walt Disney Pavilion.

$10 Million Donation Supports Child-centric Initiatives

Florida Hospital has recently taken two significant steps toward its goal of becoming a center of excellence, especially for pediatric care, with the addition of Paul R. Gordon, MD, to head its new Pediatric Cellular Therapy Program, and the expansion and renovation of the Walt Disney Pavilion. Gordon, formerly the division chief of hematology and oncology at Nemours Children’s Clinic in Orlando, will oversee the first pediatric bone marrow transplant program in Central Florida.

The hospital, which will be the 8th in Florida to offer bone marrow transplants, expects to complete about five transplants in 2011.

Sanford’s Commitment to Healthcare T. Denny Sanford’s numerous donations to better the health of children across the country include $400 million to Sanford Health in South Dakota; $20 million to the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in LaJolla, Calif., for the creation of the Sanford Children’s Health Research Center; $15 million to the Mayo Clinic for a new pediatric outpatient facility and to create a collaboration between Sanford Children’s and the Mayo Clinic; and $15 million to the Children’s Home Society, a South Dakota home for abused children. Most recently, Sanford donated $50 million to Burnham Institute for Medical Research in LaJolla, Calif. and Orlando which prompted a name change to the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.

Cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma are particularly suited for treatment with a bone marrow transplant, as are non-cancerous blood diseases like sickle cell anemia and congenital neutropenia, which can also be treated with the costly ($1 million and up) procedure. Less than 5,000 pediatric bone marrow transplants are performed in the U.S. annually.

Gordon joins pediatric hematologist/oncologists Clifford Selsky, MD, and Fouad Hajjar, MD, as part of the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases in the Florida Physicians Medical Group. “This highly skilled team will allow pediatric patients suffering from cancer and blood disorders to have access to state-of-the-art care and all the resources they need close to home,” said spokesperson Sara Channing. At present, the closest bone marrow transplant programs are at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg or the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa.

Gordon, who completed his pediatric hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation fellowship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. (chosen the number one children’s hospital for 2010-2011 by U.S. News) said he joined Florida Hospital because of its “outstanding hematology and oncology program and its commitment to children. “There’s nothing more devastating to a family then when child has cancer or a blood disorder, and it’s fulfilling to give a family hope for a cure and a future.”

The hospital has also received a $10 million donation from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, to support its commitment to providing state-of-the-art care for children. In honor of Sanford’s gift, Florida Hospital’s medical office building for children has been renamed the T. Denny Sanford Pediatric Center.

“Children have no voice or way of telling their needs,” said Sanford. “We must hear and feel what they need and provide it for them to provide for a better world for the future. I live by a personal mission to aspire to inspire before you expire; and I think we can all live by that philosophy in some way.” Sanford’s endowment will be used for facilities improvements and new equipment.

“We are committed to a new way of thinking about children’s care at our hospital, and this donation, along with the new bone marrow transplantation program, will help us achieve the goals we are working toward over the next five years,” said Tim Burrill, chief of operations at Florida Hospital for Children. “

Burrill said that an expanded and renovated Walt Disney Pavilion, to be completed in April, will include a three-story lobby, four new nursing units comprising 200 beds, a pediatric emergency room and surgery suites specially designed for children. The entire space will be child friendly, featuring Disney characters and movies. Children can paint their own pictures in the lobby, visit Disney characters Ariel and Flounder under the sea, or interact with characters from The Jungle Book. The goal throughout is to put your child at ease and let them know that they are safe and in very good hands.

“We wanted to create an environment that doesn’t scare children and we accomplished that with an overall nature theme that flows from our lobbies into exam rooms and surgical suites,” noted Burrill. Flat panel television screens show movies to keep children entertained and relaxed, lights change colors, and subtle nature scents will be piped into selected lobby areas. “A lot of what we are doing for children could be applied to adult spaces as well,” said Burrill. “We are all kids at heart, so why not minimize the fear associated with hospitals?”

Tags:

bone marrow transplantation, Dr. Paul R. Gordon, Florida Hospital, T. Denny Sanford, umbilical cord blood transplantation, Walt Disney Pavilion for Children

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