Driscoll Children's Hospital fundraising for heart center expansion

Driscoll Children's Hospital is working on an 80,000 square-foot expansion to the Driscoll Heart Center.

Once complete, the center will have four new operating rooms and 35 new intensive care rooms with beds for patients and parents.

To help fund the project, the hospital is relying on community support. Flint Hills Resources presented a $100,000 check to the hospital Monday afternoon to contribute to the project and sponsor the annual Fiesta de los Ni?os fundraiser planned for March 22.

The hospital expects to raise over $1 million at the event at the American Bank Center featuring an auction and a performance by Randall King.

"When your child gets sick, especially if they're critically ill, the world stops," Andy Saenz, Flint Hills public affairs regional manager, said. "Nothing else is important. All you care about is getting that child the absolute best health care that you can possibly have. And luckily for us here in the Coastal Bend area, we don't have to go very far."

Two of the new operating rooms will be for surgery and two for cardiac catheterization. The patient rooms include bathrooms and place for a parent to sleep so that parents can stay with children the entire time they are in the hospital.

Driscoll Children's Hospital Vice President of Development Sean Pieri said the expansion will allow the hospital to serve more patients as the hospital expands its reach as far as El Paso.

The hospital system has also increased staffing in recent years.

"We have had an influx of patients that are needing cardiac surgeries, and our service area is kind of expanding," Abby McComb, Heart Center director and event co-chair, said.

Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect in the U.S., Pieri said. In South Texas, rates are particularly high.

"The need for this type of program is greater in our part of the country than it is in other areas," Pieri said.

Work on the project has already begun. The project will be complete this year.

Flint Hills Resources has sponsored the fundraising event, which started with a backyard barbeque planned by a Flint Hills plant manager, for over 30 years.

The company has contributed $1.2 million to the children's hospital, and the annual fundraiser has generated nearly $15 million.

"It's funds from Fiesta de los Ni?os that makes it possible for our doctors to care for kids throughout all South Texas," Pieri said.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Fiesta de los Ni?os to benefit Driscoll Heart Center