PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 26, 2006

MEDIA - FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Deborah Perry Phone (361) 442-4538

DRISCOLL REACHES OUT TO LOCAL COMMUNITY
DURING ANNUAL TELETHON ON CHANNEL 3

22nd Annual Children’s Miracle Network Celebration
(Driscoll Children’s Hospital annual telethon fundraiser)
Saturday, June 3 ? 7 p.m. – Midnight
Sunday, June 4 ? 10:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
(Sunday - 10:30 a.m. – 12 Noon on KIII-TV 3’s Domingo Live! Show)

Televised on KIII-TV 3 (ABC affiliate) from the KIII-TV 3 studios

To donate, call (361) 985-6555 or (800) 815-1504

(Corpus Christi, TX) Get your dialing finger ready because KIII-TV 3 will host the 22nd Annual Children’s Miracle Network Celebration, Driscoll Children’s Hospital’s annual telethon fundraiser, on Saturday, June 3rd from 7 p.m. until Midnight and Sunday, June 4th from 110:30 a.m. until 12 Noon on KIII-TV’s Domingo Live! Show and 12 Noon until 5 p.m. 100% of funds raised during the telethon will stay in the area and benefit the hospital’s equipment and patient program funds.

“As a non-profit pediatric tertiary referral care center, Driscoll relies heavily on the compassion of the community to continue its mission of providing quality health care for all the children of South Texas regardless of their ability to pay,” says Rick Merrill, President and CEO of the facility. Last year, the event garnered more than $1.8 million.

More than 300 volunteers from the hospital, local supporters, and area businesses will man the phone banks taking calls from all over Corpus Christi and South Texas for more than 10 hours. The annual telethon features “miracle stories” of past patients from Corpus Christi, Calallen, Petronilla, McAllen, and Refugio.

Simultaneously, Harlingen’s KGBT-TV 4 (CBS affiliate) will televise the hospital’s Children’s Miracle Network to the Rio Grande Valley. More than 11% of Driscoll patients originate from the Valley and come by direct referrals from pediatric specialty services.

The Children’s Miracle Network helps 170 hospitals nationwide through its fundraising telethon.

Driscoll Children's Hospital Logo
About Driscoll Children’s Hospital
“Improve the health of adults and you give them back their health …
Improve the health of children and you give them their life.”

Since opening its doors in 1953, Driscoll Children’s Hospital has been offering hope and healing to the children of South Texas for half a century. The facility is a 189-bed pediatric tertiary care center with pediatric board-certified specialists representing 19 medical and nine surgical specialties. Each year, more than 6,000 children are admitted for inpatient care, 5,000 for day surgery, and 50,000 for outpatient primary and specialty care, as well as 40,000 for emergency care, as the first South Texas hospital with emergency services exclusively for children. Additionally, Driscoll maintains a state-of-the-art ground/air transport team, 20-bed pediatric intensive care unit, 40-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and specialized medical outreach.

www.driscollchildrens.org

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