Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach Auxiliary Pledges Half a Million Dollars to Support Adolescent Gym in Cherese Mari Laulhere Children's Village

LONG BEACH, Calif., Feb. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach Auxiliary pledged $500,000 to support an adolescent rehabilitation gym in the future Cherese Mari Laulhere Children's Village at MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach. This is another principal gift as part of a $60 million philanthropic campaign to support the capital and programmatic needs of this transformative state-of-the-art facility currently under construction.

Three rehabilitation gyms? an infant, developmental and adolescent gym ? will take up a complete wing of the 80,000-sq. ft., four-story Children's Village. The gyms will connect to each other and allow the care team to share resources, improve group treatments and offer access to new types of space and equipment.

"We have supported various programs that care for younger patients, but we wanted to do something for teens, since they often are overlooked," says Linda Dilday, president, Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach Auxiliary. "We fell in love with the vision for the adolescent gym. We know that a hospital isn't the coolest place to be for a teen, but the rehabilitation team is creating a space that will offer teen patients moments of happiness and fun while receiving therapy."

To better serve patients who need specialized physical, occupational and speech therapy, these new rehabilitation gyms will help young patients increase their mobility and build confidence. Specifically, in the adolescent gym, patients 11-years-old and older will have many equipment options, including treadmills, elliptical machines and weight machines to choose from. The gym will have an athletic, industrial feel with exposed ceilings and upbeat music that plays while patients exercise.

"Because the rehabilitation needs of a 2-year-old widely differ from the needs of a teen, it was important that we designed a space for older kids, where they felt supported and comfortable being surrounded by peers of their own age," says Graham Tse, M.D. chief medical officer, Miller Children's & Women's. 

The adolescent gym will have floor-length windows that face out to the unified outdoor therapy yard, which will have a giant play structure, a track for walking, running and biking, rock wall, and much more.

Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach Auxiliary is a philanthropic group, which volunteers and organizes fundraising events to support Miller Children's & Women's. Working by their motto, "Have a Heart and Help a Child," the Auxiliary will raise funds for the adolescent gym by hosting its annual designer fashion show and an annual holiday shopping fair, as well as running the hospital's gift shop.

Since its inception, the Auxiliary has donated more than $15 million to Miller Children's & Women's. Past gifts include support for the Surgical Center, General Pediatrics Playrooms and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Family Center.

"The Auxiliary has made a profound impact on children's health care for our community," says Sharon Thornton, president, Miller Children's & Women's Foundation. "They are an amazing group of women, who have supported us since we opened our doors 50 years ago."

The Children's Village will house a range of additional services, such as a laboratory, pharmacy and imaging, as well as pediatric doctors in more than 36 specialties.

About MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach:
MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach provides specialized pediatric care for children and young adults, with conditions ranging from common to complex - as well as maternity care for expectant mothers - all under one roof. Only five percent of all hospitals are children's hospitals, making them unique not only to children's health care needs in the community, but across the region. Miller Children's & Women's is one of only eight free-standing children's hospitals in California - treating more than 14,000 children each year - and has become a regional pediatric destination for more than 65,000 children, who need specialized care in the outpatient specialty and satellite centers.

SOURCE MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach