by Jessica Pasley
Members of the country music industry came together to celebrate the newly opened 10th floor of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. The space was made possible, in part, through significant support from the Country Music Association (CMA).
CMA board members, CMA Foundation board members and CMA staff joined Children’s Hospital leaders, patients and their families for a behind-the-scenes tour of the new space on Aug. 12.
“Welcoming the Country Music Association to the Pediatric Heart Institute is an exciting milestone,” said Jeff Balser, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
“We are celebrating CMA’s commitment to improving the lives of children and their families. I am deeply grateful for the country music industry’s unwavering passion for ensuring children have access to the highly specialized care they need, when they need it.”
In 2014, Children’s Hospital launched the Growing to New Heights Campaign, a $40 million philanthropic effort to fund the addition of four new floors atop its existing facility. And in 2015, Brooks & Dunn’s Kix Brooks and Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott announced CMA’s $3 million gift to support the expansion project.
Now, after a nearly three-year construction effort, that support has made the first of the new floors a reality. The 40,000-square-foot Pediatric Heart Institute opened its doors to patients this summer.
The tour gave CMA representatives a first look at the patient rooms, nurses station and family waiting area named in CMA’s honor.
“The Country Music Association is honored to support the beautiful addition of the Pediatric Heart Institute at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA chief executive officer. “Vanderbilt has been a longtime partner of CMA, and we are excited for the life-changing impact this new facility will have on families and the community.”
As longstanding partners in the community, the two organizations have supported each other for years. VUMC has cared for CMA through ongoing efforts to provide health care services, both conventional and those tailored to help artists protect their health and achieve full potential.
VUMC’s participation in and support of CMA’s Instrumental Healthcare program allows CMA members and their families access to affordable health care through diverse programs at VUMC.
CMA and its members continue to generously support VUMC in many other ways, including fundraisers, concerts, philanthropic events and direct financial contributions. In addition, music artists often visit the hospital to brighten the days of patients and their families.
Each new floor at Children’s Hospital is adding 40,000 square feet. Once complete, the first two floors of the four-floor expansion will increase the number of beds from 267 to 339. When all four floors are complete this will add 160,000 square feet of new space, bringing the hospital’s total footprint to more than 1 million square feet.
This additional space will enable Children’s Hospital to provide specialized care for even more children across the region and beyond.
