WESLACO, Texas - Knapp Community Care Foundation has donated $500,000 to establish the Mid-Valley Pediatric Assistance Endowment, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley for a total of $1 million.
Matthew Wolthoff, president of DCHRGV, said the endowment will provide vital financial assistance to pediatric patients and their families from the Mid-Valley region, helping to cover travel, lodging, and pharmaceutical costs related to care at Driscoll Children’s Hospital Rio Grande Valley.
“This extraordinary gift ensures that families in the Mid-Valley region will have access to the resources they need when their children require specialized care,” Wolthoff said. “The Knapp Community Care Foundation’s vision aligns with our mission of making world-class pediatric care more accessible to every child, regardless of circumstance.”
Cristina Trejo-Vasquez, CEO of the KCCF, said the decision reflects KCCF’s commitment to addressing barriers to care. “This support extends beyond medical care by addressing the significant challenges families face when a child is ill. Through this partnership with Driscoll, KCCF is advancing its mission to advocate for and improve the health and well-being of children in the Mid-Valley.”
Laura Nassri Warren, Driscoll Children’s Hospital Development Foundation Board Member, kicked off a press conference to announce the endowment.
“Today, we are here to celebrate a moment of generosity and impact. It is with deep appreciation and pride that we announce a transformational gift from the Knapp Community Care Foundation to the Driscoll Children's Hospital,” Nassri Warren said.
“It is a very proud day for all of us, and one of our underscores the importance of collaboration, vision and generosity. This is not just a gift to Driscoll, it is a gift to every child in our entire community, this includes the Mid Valley and with every family who will walk through our doors in search for hope and healing.
Nassri Warren said what drove her to cooperate with Driscoll was “knowing that no child is ever turned away because of the parents not having the ability of being able to pay.”
Driscoll’s Wolthoff said the partnership with Knapp is another milestone for his health system in the Valley.
“It's been just over a year since e opened our doors here at Driscoll Children's Hospital-Rio Grande Valley, and it's been a tremendous year. In that year, we've seen over 20,000 children in our emergency department. We’ve performed over 5,000 surgeries in our ORs. We've admitted over a thousand babies in our neonatal ICU. And the list, the milestones on the list, continues to build as we grow,” Wolthoff said.
Wolthoff continued: “The first year was wildly successful by nearly all performance indicators. But the great news is that we're just getting started. We are going to continue to grow and continue to meet the needs of our community. So, we’re recruiting more and more pediatric sub-specialists to our community.
“We're increasing access here at home, and we're on the verge of starting the Valley's first pediatric residency program, which will be a game changer for the future generation of pediatricians here in the Rio Grande Valley.
“The bottom line, again, is that we'll continue to grow and expand services to meet the needs of our growing community here in the Rio Grande Valley, and a major part of that is the Mid-Valley.”
Wolthoff said none of this would have been possible without the support of Driscoll’s community partners.
“So, the mission of the Knapp Community Care Foundation, I just did a little research… is to improve the health of Mid-Valley families. So, we're here today to announce a gift that will directly impact access to care for children from our communities between Raymondville to the north and east, Progreso to the south and Donna to the west and everything in between. There's a lot of children,” Wolthoff said.
“This $500,000 donation, which will be matched by the Driscoll Children's Hospital Development Foundation, will establish the Mid-Valley pediatric assistance endowment, and will set the stage for perpetually removing barriers for families seeking care that they deserve at Driscoll.
“At Driscoll, we like to say, ‘Together We Heal’ and community partnerships like this are critical to long term sustainability and our ability to continually raise the bar in terms of quality of care and wellness for our children. To the Knapp Community Care Foundation and board we say, thank you. Thank you for your partnership and, most of all, thank you for entrusting us with the care of the children of the Mid-Valley. We are grateful. Thank you very much.”
KCCF’s Trejo-Vasquez said: “So today is just a really, really incredible moment for for us and for our community. Like Matt said, our mission is to improve the health of Mid-Valley families. So, for almost 13 years, the Knapp Community Care Foundation has been doing that in the Mid-Valley.
“And as Matt mentioned, our funding is restricted to the Mid-Valley, and so our board of directors are entrusted with the funds that we have to be able to grant every year. By IRS rules, we can grant five percent and we're doing our job. But I'd really like to point out that our board of directors are innovative. They're creative. From year to year, they really study what the needs are in the Valley, and how can we truly make the most impact from our investment for Mid-Valley families.”
Trejo-Vasquez then explained a change in approach by KCCF.
“The first few years of the Knapp Community Care Foundation, there was a focus primarily on obesity and diabetes, which continues to be a tremendous need. But over time, they (the board of directors) really began to hear from the community and have broadened the umbrella for which we fund, which is the social determinants of health, or the non-medical drivers of health,” Trejo-Vasquez said.
“Our board is very aware of the fact that health does not equate to health care, but there's a number of many other indicators and factors that really contribute to health. So, I want to just say how proud I am of our board, because they're really the ones that set the direction to make the decisions, to be innovative.”
Trejo-Vasquez added: “When this opportunity to partner with with Driscoll Hospital came about, it was really the board that sat together and said, this is an investment for the Mid-Valley that can be very unique. This partnership can be very unique because we can, like I said, do our job if we grant out our money every year. But this particular gift is an endowment, and it's a first.
“We've given large gifts in the past, very worthy projects that have been funded over the last, almost 13 years. But really this is the first time the board has said, you know, this partnership will be in perpetuity. It will continue beyond the initial investment for our Mid-Valley families.”
