Credit Unions for Kids pledge $5 million to Doernbecher

Fibre Federal Credit Union aims to improve the health and wellness of the communities it serves, beginning with its youngest residents. Fibre Federal’s largest passion project is fundraising for OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital through the Credit Unions for Kids program. Since 1996, credit unions in the Pacific Northwest have raised nearly $19 million for Doernbecher which has helped fund endowed professorships, an outpatient clinic, additional rooms in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and most recently a five-story guest house for patients and their families.

A new five-year $5 million pledge from Credit Unions for Kids supporters, including Fibre Federal, will help develop a state-of-the-art hybrid operating room. This facility will merge the pediatric operating room and the cardiac catheterization lab, where heart diagnostics and treatments for young patients are performed. The combination of these services will allow cardiologists to perform complex procedures together in one setting without risky transportation between departments.

“Building a hybrid operating room will ensure that we can instantly deliver the most innovative, life-saving care to our most fragile patients,” said Dana A. Braner, M.D., Physician-in-Chief at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Credit Unions for Kids chair, and Professor of Pediatrics at the OHSU School of Medicine. “OHSU is the only academic health center between Seattle and San Francisco, which means families from all over the region count on us to provide top-quality care [regardless of their ability to repay]. It’s essential that we continue to build our capacity to care for children with the most complex and urgent heart conditions. This project, and the generous support provided by Credit Unions for Kids, is a critical step toward that goal.”