Jacksonville, Fla., December 17, 2004
A $5 million gift received today by Wolfson Children's Hospital will establish a pediatric neurosurgery center, the first in our region.

The gift - the largest received in Wolfson's 50-year history - came from The Lucy Gooding Charitable Foundation Trust, a local foundation dedicated to supporting organizations that provide services directly to children.

"The effect this gift will have on our patients is incredible," said Hugh Greene, president and CEO of Baptist Health, Wolfson's parent organization. "It will allow us to expand our circle of care, offering much needed services to children in our city and region."

Establishing a pediatric neurosurgery center has been a long time goal of the hospital. In August 2003, renowned pediatric neurosurgeon Hector James, MD, was recruited by Wolfson and the University of Florida and charged with spearheading the development of a "state of the art" pediatric neurosurgery program.

"This brings us much closer to being able to serve as a regional provider of pediatric care," said Dr. James, currently one of a very limited number of pediatric neurosurgeons practicing in the state of Florida. "With this gift, we can move forward in expanding our medical staff and clinical technology."

The plan for the Lucy Gooding Children's Neurosurgery Center, as it will be called, includes recruiting additional neurosurgeons and clinicians, integrating state-of-the-art clinical technology and establishing a research and education component for the program. Services include treatment for children born with a number of diseases and disabilities including Spina bifida, epilepsy, brain tumors, craniosynostosis, and spasticity. Pediatric neurosurgeons can also treat children still in the womb, and those with brain damage sustained due to physical abuse. The Center will complement the Brunell Family Children's Neurodiagnostic Center in providing well-rounded patient care.

The potential of impacting the lives of so many children is what inspired the Gooding Trust to fund this project. "We very much believe in the vision of Dr. James and the Wolfson team," said Bonnie H. Smith, the trust's executive director who serves with trustees Robert A. Mills and Wilford C. Lyon. "It is our mission to support children through health care and education programs, and establishing a children's neurosurgery center is a unique opportunity for doing that."

The Trust was established in 1988 by Lucy B. Gooding, whose husband, Henry Gooding, was a founder and president of the Independent Life and Accident Insurance Co. Its mission is to provide funds to organizations that provide services directly to children and to provide relief services to the community as a whole. At the time of Mrs. Gooding's death in 2002, the Trust had assets of $9.7 million. However, in 2004 when her estate was settled, those assets rose to $85 million, making it one of the three largest private foundations in the area, according to the 2004 edition of Philanthropy on the First Coast.