Intermountain Healthcare Launches Primary Promise, the Most Ambitious Philanthropic Initiative Undertaken to Enhance Children’s Health in Utah, Intermountain West

SALT LAKE CITY (Good Things Utah) — Intermountain Healthcare and community leaders have launched the most ambitious philanthropic initiative ever undertaken to enhance children’s health in Utah and the Intermountain West and are inviting the public to join the effort.

The Primary Promise campaign to create the nation’s model health system for children represents the most significant investment in the health and wellness of children across Utah and the Intermountain West.

With a minimum goal of $600 million needed to bring this vision to life, Primary Promise, under the leadership of Intermountain Foundation, so far has secured $464 million in a powerful partnership between philanthropic members of the community and Intermountain Healthcare.

These gifts will help address increasingly complex physical and emotional needs of rapidly growing pediatric populations in Utah and throughout the Intermountain West.

These growing needs, combined with Intermountain’s close relationship with the communities it serves, creates an opportunity to create a holistic health system for children that will support more kids than ever for the next 100 years.

“We’ve continued listening to the communities we serve and Primary Children’s experts, and now know we’ll need a minimum $600 million investment to improve the health and well-being of children in Utah and surrounding states for generations to come,” said Katy Welkie, chief executive officer of Primary Children’s Hospital and vice president of Intermountain Children’s Health.

Primary Promise includes three main components:

1) Primary Children’s Hospital will be strengthened with the additions of the advanced Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center, an enlarged and enhanced Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, an expanded cancer treatment center, and heightened research activities in partnership with University of Utah Health.

2) Pediatric care excellence will be extended across the Intermountain West to bring expert care closer to home. This effort includes the construction of the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Campus, which is a second 66-bed Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi, Utah; and an expanded pediatric care network utilizing in-person and telehealth services.

3) Emerging children’s health needs will be innovatively addressed through expanded mental and behavioral health services; teen-to-adult transition programs for children with chronic illnesses; and an expanded Healthy Kids program focused on helping children stay healthy and safe in their communities, including helping kids experiencing food instability or past traumatic events to avoid health complications later in life.

“We are excited to engage our communities in our Primary Promise to continually improve the children’s health,” said Dustin Lipson, Primary Children’s Hospital administrator. “We invite people to join us in embracing our Primary Promise, make it their promise too, and help us reach our goal to support the physical and emotional needs of children today and in the future.”

The vision for Primary Promise was unveiled in January 2020, inspiring an unprecedented gift of $50 million from Utah businesswoman, civic leader, and philanthropist Gail Miller. The vision subsequently attracted additional philanthropic gifts from community members, along with investments from Intermountain Healthcare.

With secured funding more than halfway to the minimum financial goal, community and Intermountain leaders decided it was time to transform the Primary Promise from a vision to a formal public campaign. Primary Promise leadership now seeks to invite widespread public participation to move this historic effort across the finish line.

Miller, owner and board chair of Larry H. Miller Group of Companies and chair emeritus of the Intermountain Healthcare Board of Trustees, is among four co-chairs leading the Primary Promise Campaign, which will still benefit from the expertise, guidance, and organizational support of Intermountain Foundation.

Additional co-chairs are: Crystal Maggelet, chair and CEO of FJ Management Inc. and Intermountain Healthcare trustee; Steve Lund, co-founder and executive board chair of Nu Skin Enterprises; and Spencer Zwick, co-founder and managing partner of Solamere Capital and former senior advisor to Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

“We encourage every child to dream big, and this is our moment to encourage our community to dream bigger,” Zwick said. “We invite everyone to help us build the nation’s model health system for children. It’s in our DNA to aspire to greatness. And I can think of nothing greater than creating a better, healthier future for our children. Now is the time for all of us to step up and launch the next 100 years of health for children.”

The launch of the Primary Promise comes during the centennial year of Primary Children’s Hospital, which formed 1922 when two women saw a child struggling on crutches and felt compelled to act.

To learn more about the Primary Promise and how to contribute, go to www.primarypromise.org or contact Intermountain Foundation.