NCH and Nicklaus Children's Announce Major Plans to Expand Care for Women and Children

NAPLES, Fla., Jan. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Naples Comprehensive Health (NCH) and Nicklaus Children's Hospital today announced a major expansion of care for women and children in Southwest Florida, made possible by a visionary gift from Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation. This investment will establish the Van Domelen Institute for Women and Children and support construction of the Van Domelen Pavilion for Women and Children on the NCH North Hospital campus. 

Since opening its doors in 1956 and welcoming its first baby just two days later, NCH has grown alongside Southwest Florida, caring for generations. Today, as our region has experienced unprecedented growth and complexity in healthcare needs, we are launching a bold initiative because families deserve the very best care close to home. 

Collier County is home to more than 65,000 children, with the pediatric population projected to grow another four percent in five years. NCH delivers nearly 3,700 babies each year and operates the only pediatric emergency department in the county. With this expansion, women and children will benefit from shorter wait times, reduced travel, and coordinated care between hospital teams, specialists, and community providers.

"This gift is about families," said Julia Van Domelen. "It represents the missing piece of our Foundation's work in Southwest Florida and our commitment to ensuring that women and children have access to the highest level of care at every stage of life, close to home. It is about bringing together care, access, and support so families do not have to leave their community during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives."

"Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation's vision has helped shape who we are today," said Paul Hiltz, President and CEO of NCH. "This next step ensures that every woman, every child, and every family in Southwest Florida can access exceptional care right here at home. We are deeply grateful for their extraordinary generosity and long-standing commitment to our community."

For more than twenty years, Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation has been a steadfast partner to NCH, providing visionary leadership and generous philanthropic support that has helped bring life-saving programs to life. The Foundation's impact can be seen across the health system, from the Obstetric Emergency Department, which has helped save the lives of mothers and babies facing high-risk pregnancies, to hundreds of hours of specialized education for nurses and physicians through advanced simulation training. Their generosity has also strengthened the NCH Rooney Heart Institute, provided care for cardiology patients, and supported critical roles such as the Pediatric Special Needs Navigator, helping hundreds of families connect to the right care at the right time.

The Van Domelen gift will be used to fund two parts of this major project: The Van Domelen Institute for Women and Children - the new name of the program for women and children already in existence, and The Van Domelen Pavilion for Women and Children - the planned tower which will be the program's eventual hub.

The Van Domelen Institute for Women and Children is the integrated model of care and programmatic framework that unifies services for women and children across Southwest Florida. The Institute integrates outpatient services, including maternal-fetal medicine, prenatal and postpartum care, pelvic floor therapy, menopause management, and pediatric subspecialty care. Extending care beyond hospital walls, the Institute will also address prevention, education, and chronic disease management across the lifespan through a coordinated, comprehensive approach.

The Van Domelen Pavilion for Women and Children will be a four-story, 156,000-square-foot center of clinical excellence built above the existing emergency departments at NCH North Hospital. It will feature modern labor and delivery suites, advanced operating rooms, enhanced maternal-fetal medicine, advanced women's health services, and a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to keep high-risk pregnancies and critically ill newborns close to home. A rooftop helipad will support rapid transport and timely access to lifesaving care. The Pavilion represents an over $350 million investment in our community, with NCH and Nicklaus Children's partnering to raise 80 percent through philanthropy to break ground. 

"The Pavilion and Institute will serve as a bridge, connecting exceptional hospital care with trusted community partners to create a seamless, integrated model of support," added Van Domelen. "When families leave the hospital, they should be set up for success. Through this model of wraparound services, we believe we can help ensure long-term health and well-being for generations to come."

"Together with NCH, we are excited to bring nationally recognized pediatric expertise closer to home by working with them to create an integrated, family-centered model of care that will serve generations and ensure families receive the highest level of care when and where they need it," said Matthew A. Love, President and CEO of Nicklaus Children's Health System. "On behalf of the Nicklaus Children's board and organization, as well as Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, we thank Paul, Julia and both teams at NCH and the Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation for their commitment to advancing pediatric healthcare in Southwest Florida so families remain close to home."

The initiative will also strengthen relationships with organizations that NCH has collaborated with and Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation supports, such as Healthcare Network, David Lawrence Centers, Neighborhood Health Clinic, Baker Senior Center and others that provide wraparound services for children, women, and families. By connecting hospital care with preventive, behavioral health, and social support resources, this project creates a collaborative, sustainable model powered by philanthropy. 

As a nonprofit health system, NCH relies on the generosity and philanthropic support of local residents to expand facilities, implement advanced technologies, and deliver the highest level of care.  Bill and Julia Van Domelen Foundation's extraordinary gift represents a defining moment in this effort, and community support will be essential to fully realize this vision for women and children in Southwest Florida. 

For more information or to learn how to support the Van Domelen Pavilion for Women & Children and learn more about the Van Domelen Institute for Women & Children, visit nchmd.org/WomenandChildren 

ABOUT NCH
NCH (Naples Comprehensive Health) is an Advanced Community Healthcare System™ serving Southwest Florida with premier routine, critical, and specialty care. NCH, a locally governed non-profit, is recognized as one of Healthgrades America's Top 50 Hospitals which puts it in the top 1% in the nation for clinical excellence, in addition to being named a Top 50 Hospital for Surgical Care. The system is more than just two hospitals (referred to as the NCH Baker Hospital and NCH North Hospital) with more than 700 beds - NCH is an alliance of over 750 physicians and medical facilities in dozens of locations throughout Southwest Florida and is the region's only Joint Commission accredited Comprehensive Stroke Center. NCH cardiac care is ranked top three in the state by Healthgrades. NCH collaborates with the Hospital for Special Surgery for orthopedics, Nicklaus Children's Hospital for pediatrics, and ProScan Imaging for radiology services, ensuring top-tier medical care is available in Southwest Florida. With the largest provider network, urgent/immediate care centers, diagnostic facilities, and two hospitals, NCH is always advancing the quality of care near you. For more information, visit www.NCHmd.org.

ABOUT Nicklaus Children's
For 75 years, Nicklaus Children's has stood as a beacon of hope for children and families across the state of Florida and beyond. Nicklaus Children's Hospital is South Florida's #1 nonprofit, freestanding specialty licensed hospital exclusively for children serving close to 70 percent of children in the Miami metropolitan community. In addition, Nicklaus Children's offers care within NCH North Hospital in Naples, Jupiter Medical Center's De George Pediatric Unit and select Baptist Health Hospital pediatric emergency units. The hospital and its network of nearly 35 outpatient care locations offer lifesaving care in Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin and Palm Beach counties. These outpatient locations include an array of urgent care, pediatric primary care, and subspecialty care centers and are either hospital-based or outpatient locations under Nicklaus Children's Pediatric Specialists, LLC (NCPS). Providing a pipeline of future physicians and groundbreaking research, Nicklaus Children's is an academic and clinical affiliate of Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Nicklaus Children's is home to centers of excellence including the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, the Nicklaus Children's Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute, Nicklaus Children's Neuroscience Institute and Nicklaus Children's Heart Institute. The 325-bed hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine, with many programs routinely ranked among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. Nicklaus Children's also includes a nonprofit physician practice subsidiary with over 40 specialties, and an ambulatory surgery center. For more information visit nicklauschildrens.org. 

SOURCE Nicklaus Children's Health System