State businessman donates $400 million to hospital system

By Carson Walker, The Associated Press | Monday, February 05, 2007

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SIOUX FALLS — The South Dakota businessman ranked among the nation’s top philanthropists will have an entire health-care system named after him because of a $400 million donation aimed at children’s health care.

T. Denny Sanford of Sioux Falls, who made his $2.5 billion fortune as owner of First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard, gave the gift to Sioux Falls-based Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health System, which will now be called Sanford Health.

Sanford, 71, has already donated millions to children and research and was ranked 49th on a November Business Week magazine list of the 50 most generous philanthropists.

His biography states that his “primary interest is in helping sick, disadvantaged, abused and/or neglected children” and that he has previously vowed to give away his wealth.

“I’m totally honored and sincerely thankful for the opportunity to put my name on a great health organization led by an absolutely great team,” Sanford said after Saturday’s announcement in front of 1,800 employees and community leaders. “I believe that some of the things we’re achieving will be, in fact, transformational within the health industry.”

Sanford’s other recent donations include $70 million to convert the abandoned Homestake Mine in Lead into an underground science laboratory,

$14 million to the Children’s Home Society in Sioux Falls, $16 million to build a children’s hospital in Sioux Falls and $20 million to the Sioux Valley health system to expand projects involving the University of South Dakota’s School of Medicine.

According to the plan, the $400 million will go toward several projects that will bear Sanford’s name and expand the health system beyond its current patient base in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska including:

n Five pediatric clinics throughout the country that will be tied to the new children’s hospital in Sioux Falls, scheduled to open in 2009. The clinic locations will be chosen through a national advertising campaign.

n An expansion of research at Sioux Valley’s current five institutes and a new pediatric research institute that will focus on the needs of children.

n A commission of experts that will identify a promising area of medical research on one pressing health-care issue and bring together top scientists that will work toward attracting money from sources as the National Institutes of Health.

n Eventually establishing more than 20 separate specialized facilities around a medical center in Sioux Falls, with a goal of joining the ranks of the world’s best hospitals.

“To try to be in league with the best in the industry, the icons of health care — from Johns Hopkins to Mayo and other like organizations. It takes the infrastructure, the economic resources that are now afforded to us to bring the best talent,” Kelby Krabbenhoft, president and chief executive, said.

Sanford, who was born in St. Paul, Minn., earlier gave $15 million for pediatric care to a joint program between the children’s hospital and the Mayo Foundation in Rochester, Minn.

The new gift will build on that relationship, with a focus on children, Krabbenhoft said.

“Mayo is primarily directed at the geriatric group. And I’d like to see the same type of thing that Mayo has done have us do in this organization and become recognized worldwide for what we have done for children,” Sanford said.

What is now Sioux Valley Hospital began in 1894 as the city’s first hospital. It has grown to become the largest employer in the region, with 12,000 employees, 340 physicians, 115 clinics and 24 hospitals.

Beyond the impact on health care for children, the economic value to South Dakota could top $1.2 billion during the next decade, Gov. Mike Rounds said.

“Today, we have a chance to thank a guardian angel that will help children for generations to come,” he said.

On the Net:

http://www.sanfordhealth.org