Arkansas Children’s Hospital Receives Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ Highest Honor

(Statewide) March 9, 2018 – Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH) today recognized Arkansas Children’s Hospital with its highest national honor, the Founders’ Award, highlighting the work of Arkansas Children’s to champion children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow.

The recognition marks the first time that a member hospital – now a statewide health system – has received the award, which distinguishes the most dedicated advocates of children’s hospitals in the U.S. and Canada.

“The founders of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals are proud to award our organization’s most prestigious honor to Arkansas Children’s,” said John Lauck, president and chief executive officer for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. “Arkansas Children’s Hospital was a founding member of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. For more than 30 years, they have worked tirelessly with corporate partners like Walmart, Sam’s Club, Love’s Travel Stops and Log-A-Load for Children in their region to improve the health and wellbeing of children in a rural state. Additionally, the pediatric health system recently opened the nation’s newest Children’s Miracle Network Hospital – Arkansas Children’s Northwest. Finally, the more than 200,000 children in that region have expert pediatric care close to home. Arkansas Children’s is to be commended for their vision and commitment to children.”

The CMNH Founders’ Award has been awarded to some of the most world’s most influential individuals, including Roy Disney, longtime senior executive at The Walt Disney Company; Bill Marriott, chairman of Marriott International; and legendary golfer Arnold Palmer. CMNH has previously honored Walmart’s 1.4 million associates for their passionate support of children’s hospitals.

In 1983, Joe Lake, Marie Osmond, John Schneider and Mick Shannon founded Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals with a goal of improving access to pediatric healthcare across the nation.

“Arkansas Children’s is proud to be a member of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals,” said Fred Scarborough, president of Arkansas Children’s Foundation and Chief Development Officer of Arkansas Children’s. “Since the inception of our partnership in 1983, Arkansas Children’s and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals have worked together to raise much-needed funds to improve children’s health in Arkansas. We are grateful to receive the Founders’ Award from Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. We recognize it is a tremendous honor and are humbled by this historic moment. We share it with all of the volunteers who work tirelessly throughout the year on our behalf to champion children.”

CMNH also presented Arkansas Children’s Hospital with its award for highest per capita fundraising in a large market, underscoring work to raise the most money per citizen of any of CMNH’s 170 members.

“These honors truly recognize the outstanding statewide spirit of support that makes Arkansas Children’s unique,” Scarborough said. “It is because of our dedicated volunteers, hard-working clinicians, passionate staff and generous donors including Walmart and Log a Load for Kids, that we are able to create transformative change to better serve children.”

For more than 30 years, Walmart and Sam’s Club associates have raised funds for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals one dollar at a time and contributed nearly $1 billion to pediatric healthcare. In Arkansas, associates raise more than $1 million annually for Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Arkansas Children’s Northwest. Additionally, in 2016, Walmart, Sam’s Club and Walmart Foundation made an $8 million investment toward the construction of Arkansas Children’s Northwest, forging an even stronger partnership in ensuring more children have access to quality pediatric care where they live, learn and play.

Arkansas Children’s Northwest became CMNH’s newest member hospital this year, opening in Springdale last month to provide right-sized inpatient, outpatient, diagnostic and emergency medical services to the more than 200,000 children who live in the region. Built in a park-like setting, the hospital also offers a wide array of family-centered programs and services: pastoral care, education and child life, food banks, dental outreach and social work.

“It’s been my experience that children’s hospitals do so much more than take care of sick kids. They are the foundations to a healthier nation – the conveners, the collaborators, the innovators. They deliver on the promise of creating a healthier tomorrow,” says Marcy Doderer, president and CEO of Arkansas Children’s. “We are honored to receive national recognition from CMNH – one of our strongest collaborators and partners in championing children.”