Submitted
A legacy gift for the Bradshaw Institute for Community Child Health and Advocacy institute was given by William and Annette Bradshaw in a partnership with the Greenville Health System.
The Bradshaw’s gift is the largest in GHS’ history, according to hospital officials. No amount was disclosed at the request of the family, the release stated.
The goal for the gift is to improve the well being of all children in S.C. through targeted research and intervention.
It promotes allowing wide-ranging programs to reach families before health problems reach critical level – whether that problem is asthma, abuse, diabetes, skyrocketing obesity levels or ensuring children reach optimal development or preventing injuries through extensive community education, according to GHS.
The institute and its community/university partners will focus on research, advocacy, prevention and education, healthy child development, community pediatrics and finding ways to reduce healthcare disparities.
“Giving back to the community, especially by helping children and families, is very important to our family,” the Bradshaws stated in the release. “We’ve seen firsthand how prevention out-reach – whether as simple as a car-seat check or helmet fitting – can save lives.
“Can you imagine how much more we as a community and a state can achieve through this kind of innovative approach that expands care to families and takes it directly into their communities?”
The Bradshaws, known in the Upstate for their philanthropy, have been recognized nationally for their work advocating for children. Their Bradshaw Automotive Group has grown into one of the region’s largest dealer groups since being founded in Greer in 1979.
“The Bradshaws are strengthening their legacy by passing on the value of community investment to their children and grandchildren,” said GHS President and CEO Mike Riordan. “I appreciate what this remarkable family is doing to build a safer and healthier community, state and nation for our most valuable treasure – our children.”
The GHS Children’s Hospital has been successful nationally with its child advocacy program – which reduced accidental childhood deaths in Greenville County by more than 43 percent over a 20-year period.
It hopes to expand statewide in areas as diverse as healthy child development and community pediatrics through the Bradshaw Institute, said Dr. Kerry Sease, medical director for community child health at GHS.
“Creating health for the children in our communities requires us to rewrite the narrative on health beyond the traditional healthcare provider,” said Sease.
Historically, children hospitals’ interventions occur as symptoms are presented by individual patients. Anticipating, avoiding and preventing the onset of childhood illness, disease or injury, however, is a relatively new paradigm that requires ingenuity and collaboration beyond the conventionalapproach.
To substantially improve a community’s health, children’s hospitals must extend their focus to include the social determinants that impact the overall wellness of young people, including education, family/social support, community safety and the law.
The Bradshaw Institute provides the structure to attain both the medical and social outcomes necessary for children to live better and more fulfilled lives, Sease said.