Mike and JoAnn Ross and their family have donated $1 million in support of the WVU Medicine Children’s “Grow Children’s” Capital Campaign and the Brick Health Outreach Fund in the WVU School of Medicine.
A native of Coalton and 2013 inductee into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame, Mike Ross has more than 50 years of experience in oil and natural gas production. He was a state senator from 1992-2004 and served in the House of Delegates in 2009-10. The Rosses have five children, eight grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. In 2011, the Rosses made a $1 million gift to WVU Medicine Children’s to support pediatric diabetes care and research.
A portion of the new gift will be used to name the family waiting area in the surgical and procedural center in the new WVU Medicine Children’s tower.
“My association with the hospital goes back to the 1960s, when they treated my children at critical times, all the way through my grandchildren to the present. It is one fine hospital. The staff and administration have always been wonderful. They do not turn anyone away. We have been fortunate not to have needed services at WVU Medicine Children’s in the past few years, but we are blessed to help other families,” Mike Ross said. “Any support of this project will support families in the future. This is one of the most important ways we can help.”
The 150-bed, nine-story tower is scheduled to be completed in 2021. The tower will include:
Diagnostic imaging and a laboratory
Operating rooms, cardiac catheterization, interventional radiology, and endoscopy facilities
A 34-bed Pediatric Acute Care Unit with six beds available for Hematology/Oncology
A 31-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with six beds available for epilepsy monitoring
A 54-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
A 30-bed Birthing Center
A Medical Office Building, Cancer Institute, Heart and Vascular Institute, and Maternal-Fetal Medicine clinics
All the inpatient rooms will be private, except for nine NICU rooms for twins. The tower will also include inpatient and outpatient pharmacy facilities and a cafeteria.
“We are grateful for the generous support Mike, JoAnn, and their family have extended to us over the years, and we’re so glad their legacy will carry on in the new tower, where future generations of West Virginians will receive care for years to come,” Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the West Virginia University Health System, said. “With their help, our dream of a new home for WVU Medicine Children’s will become a reality.”
The remainder of the gift will be used to support the Brick Health Outreach Fund at the WVU School of Medicine, which was created in honor of the work of long-time WVU faculty physicians, native West Virginians, and WVU School of Medicine alumni John Brick, M.D., neurologist; Larry Rhodes, M.D., pediatric cardiologist; and the late Jim Brick, M.D., rheumatologist. It supports outreach in clinical care, education and accessibility in underserved areas of West Virginia.
Clinical outreach has been one of the pillars of patient care for the School of Medicine for decades,” Dr. John Brick said. “This gift will help to ensure these programs continue into the future and grow to meet the needs. Mike Ross is a true West Virginian. He loves the state and loves the people of West Virginia and this is but another example of how he has supported projects to improve the lives of West Virginians in small town throughout the state.”
The gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the non-profit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.
Individuals or businesses interested in supporting the WVU Medicine Children’s “Grow Children’s” Capital Campaign can call 304-598-4346 or visit wvumedicine.org/growchildrens.
WVU Medicine Children’s – currently located on the sixth floor of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, WVU Medicine’s flagship hospital – provides maternal, infant, and pediatric care for West Virginia and the surrounding region, giving care to high-risk mothers, premature infants, and children with life-threatening conditions through adolescence to adulthood. For more information, visit wvumedicine.org/childrens.
