\n<\/p>\n
\n\tEarlier this year, the East Tennessee Children\u2019s Hospital became the Dolly Parton Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/a> The country icon might be all glitz and glam, but her contribution to the health center goes far beyond an applauding namesake. In a recent interview with the Chief Healthcare Executive<\/a><\/em>, the hospital\u2019s president and CEO, Matt Schaefer, acknowledged the considerable funding Parton has put forward.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat I can tell you is that she has made a generational and transformational commitment to Children\u2019s and its mission,\u201d Schaefer said, \u201cand that commitment is something that goes beyond our wildest expectations, that is beyond generous, and will be a lifeline for this mission for now and for years to come. And we\u2019re excited about and humbled by her willingness to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSchaefer declined to specify the amount of Parton\u2019s donation, but noted that the contribution \u201cpositions this organization and the community around us in a really enviable and exciting place.\u201d The funding will be divided across multiple focus points to benefit the children receiving treatment and the physicians providing those services. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cChildren and families don\u2019t need to leave this community for high-quality care,\u201d he continued. \u201cSome of those fall in the neuroscience space, particularly around epilepsy. There\u2019s a depth and breadth of services relative to pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric ENT in particular, that we don\u2019t have the capacity that we need to care for this community in the broadest sense possible.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSchaefer is also hoping Parton\u2019s name will help draw more interest in \u201cthings like residency recruitment and train pediatricians, as we recruit talent to this region, and I hope that\u2019s a big part of how Dolly coming alongside our mission helps us do more than we could have in any imaginable way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n