Nearly $350,000 Awarded to CHRISTUS Shreveport-Bossier to Benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Services

During its annual Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH) grant event Thursday, CHRISTUS Foundation Shreveport-Bossier presented $350,000 to the CHRISTUS Shreveport-Bossier Health System. This funding will be used to support pediatric-focused care throughout CHRISTUS programs in our community. The grants awarded were made possible by donations to local CMNH programs, events and campaigns with partnering businesses.

The grant awards range in amounts from $1,200 to $114,000. Eighteen departments across the system, including those at CHRISTUS Bossier Emergency Hospital, CHRISTUS Highland and CHRISTUS Coushatta, will benefit from this year’s funding.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at CHRISTUS Highland received the largest grant of $114,000 for a RetCam Envision System to treat babies facing a diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). This state-of-the-art camera system will be used to obtain accurate images of the retinas of premature babies for diagnosing and monitoring ROP. The system allows the images to be added to the permanent medical record and sent to medical providers for ongoing and future treatment. If not monitored or left untreated, ROP can lead the blindness in extremely premature babies.

The CHRISTUS Cancer Treatment Center will be using funding to start at support group for children who have a loved one with a cancer diagnosis. This is the only support group of its kind in Shreveport-Bossier. The support group will be for children in grades 2 through 6. The children will receive emotional support and the ability to express their feelings through art, group conversation with peers and other resources provided by the facilitators, a Master’s Level Registered Social Worker and a patient navigator.

CMNH partners like Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, Panda Express, RE/MAX Real Estate Services, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, Love’s Travel Stops, Ace Hardware, JOANN and Take 5 Instant Oil collect donations throughout the year during various fundraising campaigns. Proceeds from events hosted by Despino’s Tire and Hoot & Holler Archery, as well as gifts from individual donors, further support the health system’s CMN Hospitals programs.

“Donations to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals truly help children and families in our local community,” said Kelley Matkins, Program Director of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals at CHRISTUS Shreveport-Bossier Health System. “Many times, the donations are made one penny at a time when customers round up at the register during a fundraising campaign. It’s incredible to see those small donations turn into big dollars that are used to purchase specialized equipment to help our babies and kids at CHRISTUS Health. We are so grateful to our generous community for investing in our kids.”

Supporting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals programs and services locally is easy and makes a tremendous impact in the lives of thousands of children in Northwest Louisiana and East Texas. Donations can be made at any time through the CHRISTUS Foundation Shreveport-Bossier website.