The Hutton Foundation has presented a $250,000 gift to Cottage Health System toward the rebuilding and retrofitting of all three of its facilities.
The award includes $125,000 to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, $100,000 to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and $25,000 to Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital.
“The Hutton Foundation is honored to support the CHS capital building projects and the state-mandated renovations and upgrades to all three of its facilities,” said Thomas Parker, president of the Hutton Foundation. “We look forward to watching these projects progress and celebrating their ultimate completion in the near future.”
According to its mission statement, the Hutton Foundation strives to provide organizational sustainability to community-based nonprofit organizations throughout Santa Barbara County and to assist agencies in achieving their highest level of performance and delivery of services, resulting in stronger, more efficient communities for all.
“We are indebted to the Hutton Foundation for this first ever system-wide gift to Cottage Health System,” said Ron Werft, president and chief executive officer of the Santa Barbara-based Cottage Health System. “A gift of this kind and magnitude attests to Cottage Health System’s mission of providing superior health care to all south and central coast communities. We hope many others will emulate this pace-setting precedent.”
All three Cottage facilities in Goleta, Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley must undergo seismic upgrading to meet state mandated requirements for all acute-care hospitals. However, no state or federal funds are available to fund the projects.
Cottage Health System has a goal to raise $100 million in funds through the community’s support for the new Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, $7 million to assist with the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital project, and a philanthropic goal still to be set for Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, which is in the preliminary stage of its campaign planning.
The not-for-profit Cottage Health System — the parent organization of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and its associated Cottage Children’s Hospital, Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital, and Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital — is guided by a 20-member volunteer board of directors from the greater Santa Barbara community.
Last year, the Cottage Hospital System provided inpatient care for 21,000 people, treated 62,000 patients through its 24-hour emergency departments and helped deliver 2,700 newborns.