$100 Million Gift Jump Starts Campaign to Open New Hospitals

During a celebration last Tuesday, over 2,000 officials of Loma Linda University Health (LLUH) announced a gift commitment of $100 million from Dennis and Carol Troesh that will kick start a $1.2 billion strategy to transform health care for millions of families throughout the Inland Empire and beyond, and set a new course for education at LLUH. The pledge from Dennis and Carol Troesh, long-time Riverside residents and business leaders, brings the total raised so far for Vision 2020 to $149 million. Officials of LLUH revealed details of Vision 2020, including the gift, believed to be the largest single-gift commitment to health care in the history of the Inland Empire, providing the cornerstone for the future transformation. By 2020, the following projects are expected to be completed: • A new, 100-bed Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital tower, connected via glass walkway with the existing Children’s Hospital, boosting to 359 the total number of licensed beds, including expansion of the Loma Linda University Health Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), already one of the largest in the country. • A new, 276-bed Adult Medical Center, including 96 intensive care beds and 180 medical-surgical beds. • A new, $60 million Loma Linda University Health Center for Discovery, a unique interdisciplinary hub for research and the Wholeness Institute to improve health outcomes for people in the Inland Empire and beyond. "The world is asking what Loma Linda University Health and our people have to offer. Now is the time to be bold, to look toward what can be, and be daring, so it is with profound excitement that I have the privilege of revealing Vision 2020, a dream of a healthier, more whole world that has been in our hearts and minds for the past few years,” said Dr. Richard Hart, president of LLUH. Carol Troesh said the gift reflects her family’s support for the institution’s commitment to creating a health and education hub that will benefit people worldwide. “Over the years, God has abundantly blessed our family, and it is our privilege and honor to give back to the community we have called home for most of our lives,” she said. In the 1970s, Dennis Troesh founded Robertson’s Ready Mix, growing the company into one of the largest ready-mix and construction aggregate operations in the western United States. Writing under the name of C.A. Hartnell, Carol Troesh has authored four historical fiction books for children. In 2013, she received the Mom’s Choice Silver Award for excellence in family-friendly media products and services. Both are active members and supporters of LLU Children’s Hospital Foundation Board. The expansion plans will significantly boost LLUMC’s total licensed beds from the current 1,076 beds in the six hospitals that make up the hospital system. The plans will also help assure that all inpatient beds at the hospital meet state-mandated seismic and safety standards for 2020. In addition to developing the Center for Discovery, the campaign will also make a major investment on education and research, including funding for more laboratories, programs, scientific research discoveries, scholarships, and faculty development. Apart from philanthropic gifts, such as the $100 million from the Troesh family, funding for Vision 2020 projects will come from federal, state, and local funds; fund raising efforts; and loans. Vision 2020 is the largest initiative in the history of LLUH, and represents the largest investment in health care in the region. The institution shares that the drive for this undertaking comes from their core strengths of pursuing new discoveries, developing strategies for a healthier world, and building on foundations of education, research, clinical care, wholeness, and service. “Vision 2020 is a campaign for a whole tomorrow, it is a catalyst that will bring together a vision for the future for the health of our community,” said Rachelle Bussell, senior vice president of advancement at LLUH. With the planned opening of January 2020, for the updated hospital, there will be an influx of jobs not just for within the hospital but also leading up to the project's completion. Hundreds of construction jobs and other service jobs will be created. For over 100 years, LLUH has played a leading and influential role in health care and education, graduating more than 45,000 health care professionals. Presently over 16,000 alumni are living and working in Southern California, two-thirds of whom are based in the Inland Empire. LLUH has graduated more than 10,500 physicians, nearly 7,000 dental health professionals, and at present, half of the practicing medical doctors in San Bernardino county received their education or training at LLUH.