Cohens give $20M to Stamford Hospital for pediatric care

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation donated $20 million to create the Cohen Children”™s Institute at Stamford Hospital, the Stamford Hospital Foundation announced Oct. 16.

From left, Chris Riendeau, senior vice president, fund development, Stamford Hospital Foundation; Gerald Rakos, chairman, Department of Pediatrics, and medical director, the Cohen Children”™s Institute; Brian Grissler, president and CEO of Stamford Hospital; Michael Fedele, chairman of the board of directors for Stamford Hospital; Alexandra Cohen; Jeanne Melino, director of philanthropy and community relations for the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation; and Edward Schuster, Stamford Hospital cardiologist.

The Cohen Children”™s Institute will offer health care to children and will incorporate all current and future pediatric services at Stamford Hospital, including the Cohen Children”™s Specialty Center at Stamford Hospital”™s Tully Health Center and a fully integrated, pediatric inpatient unit to be created in the hospital”™s Whittingham Pavilion following the opening of the new Stamford Hospital in 2016.

The new hospital will also house the Cohen Pediatric Emergency Services Center and trauma program, which the hospital said will be the first dedicated pediatric emergency center of its kind in Fairfield County. The hospital said it is the largest gift in its history.

“This generous gift will enable the hospital to provide a world-class, comprehensive patient-centered healing environment, as well as advanced emergency, trauma, surgical and nonurgent medical care for our pediatric patients,” said Dr. Gerald Rakos, chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and medical director of the Cohen Children”™s Institute at Stamford Hospital, in the press release announcing the donation. “The Cohen Children”™s Institute will be a platform for attracting and retaining nationally recognized talent. We are extremely grateful to Steve and Alex Cohen for their continued and generous support as we move into a new generation of pediatric patient care.”

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation has been a longtime supporter of Stamford Hospital, the press release said, helping provide inpatient pediatric care as well as access to pediatric specialists.

“Steven and I are happy to support the continued expansion of pediatric services at Stamford Hospital and to help create state-of-the-art facilities needed to care for our community”™s children,” Alex Cohen said in the press release. “We want families in our region to know that they can get access to top-quality medical care right here in Stamford, no matter what their financial status.”

The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation has four focus areas: education, children”™s health, veterans and the arts.