Mott Foundation grants $25 million to U-M’s Mott Children’s Hospital

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has made a $25 million grant to the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) for a new, state-of-the-art C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. The Foundation had granted $6.5 million in 1964-1965 to build U-M’s first children’s hospital.

“We consider this grant to be an important legacy to honor C.S. Mott and his strong lifelong interest in the well-being of children,” said William S. White, president and CEO of the Mott Foundation. White added that while the grant is unusual for the Foundation because it doesn’t usually support “bricks and mortar” projects outside Flint, it is pleased to be part of such a significant initiative.

In addition to the initial $6.5 million, the Mott Foundation also provided $2 million in 1984 for a major renovation of the original facility.

Mott Children’s Hospital is one of the premier health-care institutions for children and women, ranked by Child magazine in 2003 as one of the top five in the country. The current facility opened in 1969 and served 3,500 children its first year. The hospital served more than 11,000 children and provided 350,000 outpatient visits in 2004. While UMHS has added rooms and equipment to keep up with growth, the new facility will be designed with additional space and flexibility to adapt to future medical advances.

“We’re using every inch of space that we can, and serving more patients than ever from every county in Michigan and many other states and countries. But we need a new facility that we can design from the ground up to fit today’s medicine and tomorrow’s innovations,” said Patricia Warner, MPH, associate hospital director for Children and Women’s Services.

...we need a new facility that we can design from the ground up to fit today’s medicine and tomorrow’s innovations.” Patricia Warner

UMHS leaders plan to seek approval from the U-M Board of Regents this spring to proceed with the project, which is slated for completion in 2010.

The Mott grant is part of a larger fundraising campaign by UMHS to encourage foundations and individuals to contribute to the new facility. Support to date has ranged from tens of thousands of dollars raised at events held by U-M student athletes to a $4 million grant from the Detroit-based Carls Foundation.