Walmarts Raise Money For Primary Children’s Medical Center

Most eastern Idahoans know at least one family who has benefited from treatment at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City.

The hospital specializes in helping children with complex illnesses and injuries beyond what a normal medical unit is equipped to handle.

Now area Walmarts are raising money for the center.

Many of the employees who sponsor the event have personal ties to Primary Children’s, and they couldn’t be more excited as the community pitches in to help.

Little paper balloons, each one with a single name on it, symbolize generous donations given by a number of shoppers at the Rexburg Walmart.

Merrilee Adams and a co-worker hung up dozens of balloons, meaning more money is coming in for the little patients at Primary Children’s Medical Center.

“My niece has been there. My neighbor has been there. Everyone in the community knows someone who’s been there,” said Adams.

Adams is no stranger to the hospital. Her two children had surgery at the hospital not so long ago.

Over at Madison Memorial Hospital, registered nurse Shaunna Rubert talked about the babies she’s treated at the hospital who’s condition was just too complex for her team to manage.

Out of all the babies who are treated in Madison Memorial’s newborn intensive care unit, only about one in three infants a year will actually go to Primary Children’s, but the ones who do have critical conditions.

“The only babies that we would send to Primary’s would be a baby with either a surgical emergency or a cardiac anomaly,” said Rubert.

According to foundation development officer Heidi Green, the NICU at Primary Children’s Medical Center treats 600 children a year