MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Mike and JoAnn Ross and their family have made a $1 million donation 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.
The announcement of this donation came in a release from West Virginia University.
Mike Ross, a native of Randolph County and 2013 inductee into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame, has more than 50 years of experience in oil and natural gas production. Mike Ross was a state senator from 1992-2004 and served in the House of Delegates in 2009-10. In 2011. The Rosses made a $1 million gift to WVU Medicine Children’s to support pediatric diabetes care and research, according to the release.
The release stated that 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, according to the release. The tower will include the following:
- Diagnostic imaging and a laboratory
- Operating rooms, cardiac catherterization, 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
According to the release, all of the inpatient rooms will be private, except for nine NICU rooms for twins. The release also stated that the tower will 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 release stated the remained of the Ross’s gift will be used to support the Brick Health Outreach Fund at the WVU School of Medicine, which supports outreach in clinical care, education and accessibility in underserved areas of West Virginia.
The gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the non-profit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the university, according to the release.
