Children's National Hospital To Open New Sports Medicine Center Thanks To $5 Million Commitment From Fight For Children

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's National Hospital today announced a $5 million gift from Fight For Children to establish a new sports medicine center for children and adolescents. The Fight For Children Sports Medicine Center will fulfill a need in the Washington, D.C. region, by providing comprehensive services and community outreach to help student-athletes play, grow and excel.

"We are grateful for Fight For Children's leadership in helping Children's National establish this new center," said Dr. Kurt Newman, president and CEO of Children's National. "Thanks to their generosity, student-athletes of all ages will be able to benefit from care designed specifically for them and achieve new heights."

This new center will be a state-of-the art facility that helps student-athletes, families and coaches understand how to stay active and injury-free. It will help them prevent and recover from injuries and allow them to reach their athletic peak. The center's four pillars—pediatric and adolescent specific rehabilitation, performance enhancement and injury prevention, community outreach and education, and research—will help Children's National experts better understand how to safely keep student-athletes in the game.

By leveraging Children's National's regional outpatient clinics and community health centers, its relationship with D.C. schools and other key partnerships, the center will be able to provide consultations and treatment where the region's young athletes live, learn and play.

"When kids are healthy and able to participate in sports, the benefits they derive transcend age, race, gender, income, and class," said Keith Gordon, president and CEO of Fight For Children. "We're proud to join Children's National in establishing this center as the premier facility to keep all children moving on the field, in the classroom, and into the future. This project embodies our mission and the legacy of our late founder, Joe Robert, Jr., whose life passion was helping children."

Joseph E. "Joe" Robert Jr., was a stalwart advocate for children and a long-time supporter of Children's National. The Joseph E. Robert, Jr. Prize in Philanthropy was established at Children's National in 2013 to commemorate Joe's impact on the community and honor those continuing his inspirational legacy.

The Fight For Children Sports Medicine Center will be located at the site of the former Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.

About Children's National Hospital
Children's National Hospital, based in Washington, D.C., has served the nation's children since 1870. It is one of the nation's top-5 pediatric hospitals, and, for a second straight year, ranked No. 1 in newborn care, and is ranked in all specialties, by U.S. News & World Report. Children's National has been designated two times as a Magnet® hospital, a designation given to hospitals that demonstrate the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. This pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty outpatient centers in the D.C. metropolitan area, including the Maryland suburbs and Northern Virginia. Home to the Children's Research Institute and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, Children's National is the seventh-highest NIH-funded pediatric institution in the nation. Children's National is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels. For more information, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About Fight for Children
The late Joseph E. Robert, Jr. created Fight For Children and Fight Night in 1990 as a way to marshal resources to help children from low-income families in the nation's capital secure a brighter future. Today, Fight For Children's mission is to foster the physical, social and emotional, and academic development of student athletes from at-risk communities through Washington, D.C. Fight For Children also hosts Fight Night, one of the most highly acclaimed fundraising events in D.C., bringing together 2,000 heavyweights of business and government, entertainment, and community service, as well as legends from the sports and boxing world, for an evening of networking, exciting entertainment and live professional boxing bouts. For more information, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Children’s National Hospital