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Dolly Parton Shares Health Update During First Public Appearance in Months
Dolly Parton is changing lives just because she can.
After the East Tennessee Children's Hospital announced that it would be renamed in the “Jolene” hitmaker’s honor, its president and chief executive officer Matt Schaefer revealed how her sizeable donation will be the highlight of countless lives.
“What I can tell you is that she has made a generational and transformational commitment to Children’s and its mission,” Schaefer told Chief Healthcare Executive in an interview published March 30, “and that commitment is something that goes beyond our wildest expectations, that is beyond generous, and will be a lifeline for this mission for now and for years to come.”
Schaefer added, "And we’re excited about and humbled by her willingness to do so.”
While the hospital exec didn’t divulge the exact monetary value of the “9 to 5” singer’s donation, he noted how the hospital’s name change to the Dolly Parton's Children's Hospital will "allow them to tell a broader story about the depth and breadth of services here, to imagine how we can continue to expand those services, and it accelerates how we should think about what our responsibility is to the patients and families that trust us today and invariably will trust us tomorrow.”
“What Dolly's partnership is allowing us to do, is to amplify and accelerate some of those initiatives in a way that we could not have done otherwise without that type of support,” he explained, “and backing and awareness across the region, for providers, for clinicians, for patients, for families and for referring providers.”
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Weeks earlier, Parton—who recently detailed her journey with her own “health issues”—shared insight into why her partnership with the hospital is so meaningful to her.
"I've always believed that every child deserves a fair chance to grow up healthy, hopeful and surrounded with love,” the 80-year-old said in a Feb. 26 Instagram video. “That belief is what brought me together with the incredible folks at East Tennessee Children's Hospital."
"For nearly 90 years, their teams have provided compassionate and talented care. They see children not just as patients, but as precious lives, each with a story, and a future,” she continued, later adding, "Together, we're committed to strengthening our relationship where world class care and a caring heart go hand in hand for children across East Tennessee and beyond.”
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