Developer Donates $5 Million to Treat Childhood Mental Illness in OC

Children’s Hospital of Orange County today announced a $5 million gift to be used to bolster support services for children, adolescents and young adults with mental illness.

One in five children experience a diagnosable mental health condition during childhood -- about 150,000 children in Orange County alone -- yet there are no psychiatric inpatient beds for patients younger than 12 and insufficient psychiatric inpatient beds for adolescents in Orange County hospitals, according to CHOC.

The absence of designated space to treat young patients means that sometimes children with serious mental health episodes remain in the emergency department for days at a time, CHOC officials said.

“We recognize that pediatric mental illness has become a nationwide crisis, and are committed to addressing it,” CHOC President and CEO Kimberly Chavalas Cripe said. “CHOC and our partners are excited by the opportunity to create a scalable model for pediatric mental health care that other communities across the country can replicate.”

Children’s advocate Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, managing partner of real estate company C J Segerstrom & Sons, donated $5 million to help establish CHOC’s Mental Health Inpatient Center, which aims to provide a safe environment for children ages 3 to 18.

The third floor of CHOC’s Research Building, located on the west side of the hospital’s main campus, will be extensively remodeled to house 18 beds in a secured, healing environment, and create an outdoor area for recreation, according to Cripe.

Construction is expected to begin this fall and be finished in late 2017.

“Sandy Segerstrom Daniels’ inspiring and generous gift will improve the lives of children battling mental illness and their families by providing the services and support they need,” Cripe said.

She said the donation serves as the cornerstone of a broader fundraising campaign by CHOC to raise $11 million for inpatient capital and startup costs, and $16 million to endow the program.

Along with the new center, the hospital and its task force will work to educate and bring awareness of the prevalence of pediatric mental health problems, and the importance of early intervention and treatment.

“We want to promote honest dialogue about children suffering from mental illness, helping to remove the social stigma,” Cripe said. “By inspiring others to share their stories, we hope to help them to heal and help others on their paths toward recovery and healing. We know our plans are ambitious, but they are critical and life-saving.”

To learn more about ways to give to CHOC’s mental health campaign, call the CHOC Foundation at (714) 509-8690 or visit www.choc.org/mentalhealthgiving.

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