Direct Energy supports expansion of Texas Children’s Heart Center

December 22, 2015

122315DirectEnergy640At a December 18 celebration, Texas Children’s Hospital announced a $5 million commitment from Direct Energy to the hospital’s Promise Campaign. The gift will be used to help expand Texas Children’s Heart Center in order to serve more children in the Houston community, Texas and the nation.

Direct Energy’s commitment is the largest corporate gift ever made to a Texas Children’s campaign priority. Nearly 200 employees from both institutions gathered at Texas Children’s to celebrate and hear remarks from Mark A. Wallace, president and CEO of Texas Children’s; Michael C. Linn, a member of Texas Children’s Board of Trustees and chair, along with his wife Carol, of the Promise Campaign; and Badar Khan, president and CEO of Direct Energy.

“Direct Energy’s generous support will help ensure Texas Children’s is able to continue to provide highly specialized care to each and every child who comes to us for help – and particularly to those who are the most critically ill and have the most complex needs,” Wallace said.

One of the highest priorities within the Promise Campaign is the expansion of the critical, surgical and emergency care services and facilities at the Texas Medical Center campus, including Texas Children’s Heart Center.

“Texas Children’s is a world-class provider of pediatric care and Direct Energy is proud to join forces with this extraordinary institution and make this meaningful gift,” Khan said. “We know our partnership with Texas Children’s will make a difference in the health and well-being of countless children and families.”

Texas Children’s recently began construction on a new 640,000-square-foot, 19-story pediatric tower. Texas Children’s Heart Center will be expanded and relocated to this pediatric tower to provide complex care more efficiently and serve even more patients. The new facility will also house pediatric intensive care units, cardiovascular intensive care units and operating rooms.

Texas Children’s Heart Center is ranked No. 2 nationally in cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report. Each year, Texas Children’s Heart Center specialists see 20,000 patients in outpatient clinics. In 2014, Texas Children’s surgeons performed 900 congenital heart surgeries and 32 heart transplants – more than any other pediatric hospital in the nation. Texas Children’s has also pioneered many of the now-standard cardiac procedures used around the world.

Promise: The Campaign for Texas Children’s Hospital is a comprehensive, $475 million fundraising effort launched in 2014 to help ensure the hospital meets the increasing need for specialized care for Houston’s rapidly growing pediatric community. For more information about the Promise campaign, visit www.texaschildrens.org/promise.