Valley Toyota Dealers Association
In addition to a $250,000 donation to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, the Valley Toyota Dealer's Association also provided over 500 teddy bears for patients.
O’Malley’s 3-and-a-half-year-old grandson spent several minutes underwater in his daycare’s swimming pool before being rushed to Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH). The boy was in a coma for two weeks, but made a full recovery. He’s now a high school football player and a straight-A student, says O’Malley, president of the Valley Toyota Dealers Association (TDA) and general manager at Camelback Toyota in Phoenix.
Back then, the Valley TDA was just beginning its donor relationship with the hospital. That relationship continues over a decade later. Most recently, the TDA donated $250,000 to help Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation approach its goal of raising $40 million to fund a new facility to meet patient demand.
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Double Donation
Dudley, Phoenix Children Hospital’s mascot, poses in front of a 2018 Toyota C-HR packed with teddy bears to be donated to patients.
Phoenix Children’s is the only Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center in Arizona. The current facility was designed to see 22,000 children per year, but actually sees more than 80,000. The new facility will be able to accommodate 100,000 annually. It will have 72 private exam rooms compared to 43 rooms in the current facility, and capacity for trauma patients will more than double.
“The new Emergency Department will make a world of difference for our staff and patients at Phoenix Children’s,” says Dr. David Notrica, medical director at PCH’s Trauma Center. “We will now have plenty of space and capability to serve patients and families who come to us.”
As part of the new facility’s ribbon-cutting on Sept. 16, the TDA donated over 500 teddy bears and they delivered them in a 2018 Toyota C-HR.
For O’Malley and many others, the important patient work at PCH hits home.
“Those people gave my grandson a new life,” he says. “I’ve never seen anybody so thorough and so dedicated, but also so nice to the parents and the grandparents. It was just a heartwarming experience, something that I’ll never forget that they did for us.”
PCH’s reach extends well past Phoenix, so O’Malley feels it’s a fitting recipient for the donation.
“They’re in Phoenix, but touch our entire region,” he says.
