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Kids can’t wait

for the curve to flatten.

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Children’s hospitals are committed to serving their local communities through the COVID-19 pandemic.

To meet these urgent demands, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is committed to ensuring 170 children’s hospitals across North America have the resources they need to care for the most vulnerable kids. The reality is: Kids Can’t Wait for a cure, for the curve to flatten or for an economic boost. They need children’s hospitals now more than ever.

Here are some ways donations to the Children’s Hospitals COVID-19 Impact Fund help:

More equipment

Due to changes in patient care, hospitals need financial donations to invest in telehealth services, personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 testing supplies. Needed investments to provide these services total more than $186 million1.

Operations

The suspension of elective surgeries and routine procedures impacts the needs of kids right now. And, the loss of funding to children’s hospitals is significant, up to 50 percent of total revenue in some locations.2 With the additional need for personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline caseworkers, costs have increased 10 percent.3 Without philanthropy, many hospitals may face significant impacts in the short and long-term.

Charitable care

In 2018, 4.3 million children didn’t have health insurance and 37 million children relied on Medicaid to cover their health-related expenses4. Due to the economic impacts of COVID-19, children’s hospitals are bracing for and seeing an increased need for charitable care, well beyond the $80 million that Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals funds covered last year5. As more families lose insurance coverage due to job loss, children’s hospitals will see increased costs as government programs don’t fully cover the cost of caring for kids.

Child life resources

Experts in helping kids cope with uncertainties, child life specialists at children’s hospitals are sharing resources with families to help them manage heightened stress and anxiety, and spending time with patients whose families can’t be in the hospital.

Virtual care

Telethealth investments could cost approximately $40 million for all 170 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals6. Telehealth and technology services will allow hospitals to provide care virtually and add technology upgrades to provide care under social distance recommendations.

Research

Children’s hospitals and their systems are actively working on developing COVID-19 treatments and vaccines including Boston Children’s Hospital7, Texas Children’s Hospital8, Seattle Children’s9, and Children’s Hospital Colorado10 among many others.

1Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. 2020 COVID-19 Impact Need Survey 2Children’s Hospital Association, 2020 3Children’s Hospital Association, 2020 4U.S. Census Bureau. Uninsured rate for children in 2018. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/09/uninsured-rate-for-children-in-2018.html 5Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. 2019 Impact Report 6Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. 2020 COVID-19 Impact Need Survey 7https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/bch-bch042820.php 8https://www.bcm.edu/news/infectious-diseases/covid-19-vaccine-baylor-texas-childrens 9https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-universities-are-developing-covid-19-solutions-in-real-time 10https://abcnews.go.com/Health/colorado-hospital-calling-donors-experimental-promising-coronavirus-treatment/story?id=69951910