Driscoll Children's Hospital
Corporate Citizen of the Year

One namesake earns the right of immediate, unequivocal, without a doubt, top of mind recognition in South Texas: Driscoll Children’s Hospital. From their traditional illuminated angel watching over it patients every holiday season to its annual telethon that raises millions for children’s health care, generations have been touched by the service of the South Texas’s state of the art children’s health care and trauma facility. For their steadfast commitment to the health and well-being of the future of our community – our children – Driscoll Children’s Hospital is named Corporate Citizen of the Year.

“Thanks to the vision of Clara Driscoll, local Corpus Christians have the same comprehensive and complex pediatric medical and surgical options as larger cities - right in our own backyard,” Steve Woener, President and CEO of Driscoll Children’s Hospital said.  “Sometimes we touch one child at a time, while others, we affect thousands.”

With a core of 1,500 employees, including pediatric specialists in 30 – including 10 surgical specialties – Driscoll Children’s Hospital leads the way in terns of children’s health care.  And in a climate where more often than not, patients are underinsured or uninsured, the hospital sets the standard for impartial, immediate care.  The hospital delivers almost $9 million per year in charity care for children from Corpus Christi to the Valley.  It also boasts the highest percentage of Medicaid patients for a children’s facility in the country.  It provides emergency care for more than 40,000 patients yearly, and the facility’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – affectionately called the “NICU” by hundreds of surviving kids, teens and adults – care for more than 20,000 premature babies every year. 

This year, the hospital earned two benchmarks in the medical community.  The hospital introduced the Driscoll Children’s Health Plan, a program offering low-cost and free health insurance for children in South Texas.  The plan enrolled more than 40,000 children and became the largest children’s health care plan in Texas.  In February of 2007, the hospital made history performing the first ever pediatric kidney transplant in South Texas.

Over 400 volunteers have clocked 95,000 of volunteer service hours for the hospital.

“We are extremely honored to receive the ‘Corporate Citizen of the Year’ award from the Chamber, and are excited to be an active and growing part of the Corpus Christi and South Texas community.  For more than 50 years, Driscoll has been providing hope and healing to some of the sickest newborns, children, and adolescents in our area.  We are proud to continue that legacy of caring for children … and only children.  Again, thank you for recognizing all that Driscoll Children’s Hospital and its dedicated team offer to our community and its children.  It is truly our pleasure to serve the families of South Texas,” Woener said.”

-bios written by Chamber Member Omar Lopez