Serving the Next Generation

The field of child and family life in health care focuses on addressing the emotional, social, and developmental needs of children and their families during hospitalization and doctor visits. Professional child and family life specialists are trained to help children cope with stress, anxiety, and uncertainty during these often-unsettling times.

Because child and family life services are not reimbursable by insurance, philanthropy is essential for their long-term stability. At Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a generous endowment has funded our child and family life team for more than twenty years. As our community has grown and as our specialists have diversified into a broader range of modalities — like art therapy, behavioral health, and bereavement care — increased and sustainable financial support is necessary to maintain and expand these services, ensuring that this crucial program can continue to operate effectively for even our children’s children.

A gift to child and family life services ensures kids can have the extra special care needed to support them during their health journeys.

Research provides hope: a hope for new and innovative treatments, a hope for more years, a hope for a cure. Philanthropy plays a crucial role in advancing pediatric clinical research by bridging the gap between available funding and the need, protecting the time of clinicians to engage in crucial research that can lead to groundbreaking treatments and cures, supporting the development and testing of new treatments and making possible studies and trials to discover effective therapies and treatments for rare childhood diseases.

Partnerships with MSU, Van Andel Institute, BAMF Health, and other institutions position Corewell Health as an integral part of a unique and collaborative research community centered right here in West Michigan. These partnerships enhance our ability to attend to the unique health care needs of children, who are often more vulnerable to congenital or emergent medical conditions or diseases. Pediatric clinical research — performed carefully and ethically by clinicians passionate in their pursuit of effective treatments — is crucial for advancing medical knowledge, improving the quality of care and increasing the health and well-being of children.

Your gift to fund pediatric research can be the spark needed to ignite innovative treatments.

Endowments — common in academic medical centers but comparatively rare in community hospital systems like Corewell Health — support pioneering programs and advanced therapies, bolstering our objectives to provide world-class care to our community’s kids. Annual endowment disbursements support programs and positions that are — due to inadequate insurance reimbursement — often enhanced or made possible through philanthropy. For a minimum of $50,000, with flexible payment terms up to five years, you can designate your endowment area and trust that investment earnings will grow over time to continually fund your philanthropic priorities.

Our goal is to ensure that Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital will remain a vital community resource by increasing support through endowed funds and positions. An endowment creates a sustainable environment for kids and can secure your commitment to ensure world-class health care in the area you are most passionate about for generations to come.

Your generous commitment to creating an endowment would provide a critical cornerstone in a legacy of exceptional pediatric health care.