Company Support Enables Children’s Hospital to Take the Next Step.
A critical need for a children’s hospital in San José, Calif., is one step closer to being met thanks to the long-standing leadership and support of Applied Materials.
Beginning with the funding of a feasibility study coupled with the Company’s continual guidance throughout the planning process, Applied Materials has proven to be a critical partner in making the hospital a reality. The Silicon Valley Children's Hospital Foundation, in conjunction with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., recently announced that Santa Clara Valley Medical Center was selected as the site for the future hospital, and is now one step closer to breaking ground.
“We wanted to help forge a community partnership that would find an innovative way to establish a Silicon Valley children’s hospital within a relatively short amount of time,” said Mike O'Farrell, vice president, Global Community Affairs.
The partnership has won praise from local officials including Blanca Alvarado, chairwoman, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, who stated, “I have worked with Applied Materials on many projects that have benefited Santa Clara County children, and I am pleased to see that once again the Company has taken a leadership position in facilitating an effort between Valley Medical Center, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and local private physicians in the effort to evaluate the feasibility of opening a children’s hospital in San José.”
Not only did The Applied Materials Foundation grant the critical seed funding to the Children’s Hospital Foundation, but some Company executives are involved with the project as well. Kathleen King, an Applied Materials employee, is chair of the board of directors of the Silicon Valley Children’s Hospital Foundation. O’Farrell and Joe Bronson, executive vice president, Global Executive Committee, and chief financial officer, sit on its executive council. Jim Morgan, chairman and chief executive officer, also is an advocate of the project.
San José is the 10th largest city in the United States, with approximately 650,000 children, yet it is the only one of the 30 largest cities in the country without a children’s hospital.
In the past, critics have claimed that a South Bay children’s hospital wasn’t necessary, in part because San Francisco and Oakland, Calif. have excellent medical centers along with the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. But the large population of children in the Silicon Valley and an excess of patients at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford have confirmed the need for another hospital.
“Many children are not getting proper care at adult hospitals, it is only logical that there is a children’s hospital that children in San José can have close access to,” King said.
Currently, the business plan for the children's hospital on the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center site is under development. The final approval vote to begin the construction of the hospital is expected within the next 12 months. If all goes well the new hospital could be completed within the next few years.
"I am impressed that Applied Materials has supported a cause with such a worthy outcome," said Santa Clara County Supervisor Jim Beall. "Keeping our children healthy in Santa Clara County has always been a high priority with me and I welcome Applied Materials' involvement now and in the future."
O’Farrell added, “We will continue to support the project by offering some of our business expertise and trying to construct a viable set of principles for operation of the hospital, working with other community leaders. The financial support will be greatly diversified at this point to include many other interested parties who have been exposed to this project and think it is a very compelling.”
The Applied Materials Foundation was established nearly a decade ago to set aside resources through growth years so the funding of critical community investments could continue during downturns, when it is needed the most.
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