Dive Brief:
- Loma Linda University Medical Center has announced a sweeping $1.2-billion expansion plan that will result in a new research center, new wellness center and more by 2020. Called Vision 2020, Loma Linda's new plan was kick-started with a recent $100-million family gift, bringing total funds raised thus far for the expansion effort to $149 million, officials said.
- Loma Linda, a huge Seventh Day Adventist health system in southern California with six hospitals, plans to complete multiple investments by 2020: a new, 100-bed children’s hospital tower, connected via a glass walkway with Loma Linda's existing children’s hospital; a new, 276-bed adult medical center; a new, $60-million interdisciplinary research hub called Loma Linda University Health Center for Discovery; and a Wholeness Institute to improve health outcomes by looking at the whole person, including spiritual needs.
- Groundbreaking on the hospital facilities is expected in 2015. No date has been set on groundbreaking for the new research facility.
Dive Insight:
"Now is the time to be bold, to look toward what can be, and be daring..." said Dr. Richard Hart, president of Loma Linda University Health. Overall, Loma Linda's fundraising campaign seeks to raise $350 million in philanthropic gifts to support the expansion effort, which officials said is the largest philanthropic campaign in the history of the Seventh Day Adventist church—and six times larger than any previous campaign by Loma Linda.
Loma Linda officials said the wide-ranging effort is about more than bricks and mortar. The expansion also is expected to fund student scholarships, faculty development and opportunities for local youth and students interested in service work, and so on. One official described it as "a campus transformation not just of buildings but of processes that I think is so critical to what we're about."
Loma Linda handles 33,000 inpatient stays and 500,000 outpatient visits annually.