Dayton Children’s Hospital receives historic investment to reinvent the path to children’s health
$40 million donation from Tom Golisano will propel innovation toward making Dayton the healthiest place to grow up
Too many children only enter the health system in moments of crisis. Families face barriers in access to care, mental health needs go unmet until they escalate and care is often fragmented across settings. Even with world-class hospitals, outcomes for our children remain poor:
- Ohio routinely ranks in the bottom half of states on many child health measures, despite having some of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals*
- In our region, one in three children younger than 15 months don’t get their recommended well-child visits**
- Nationally, 60% of kids who die by suicide never got a mental health diagnosis, meaning they never got to the right care when they needed it.***
How do we help? How do we get kids the care they need when and where they need it? How do we partner with families to reduce the burden on them from an often-fragmented health care environment?
“Just like Desmond Tutu once said, we need to stop just pulling children out of the river,” says Debbie Feldman, president and CEO of Dayton Children’s. “We need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in.”
a life-changing investment
A $40 million gift from entrepreneur, philanthropist and civic leader Tom Golisano will help change that trajectory, and meet children and families where they are, laying a foundation for lifelong wellness. It will enable Dayton Children’s to move upstream to prevent the preventable, intervene before a crisis and ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive.
“Children deserve access to the right care before a problem becomes a crisis,” says Golisano. “Dayton Children’s has a clear vision for improving children’s health by reaching families earlier, integrating care and expanding access in the community. This investment supports that vision and helps create a stronger future for children and families across the region. I’m proud to partner with Dayton Children’s to accelerate this important work.”
Grounded in the hospital’s mission – the relentless pursuit of optimal health for every child within our reach – this investment accelerates Dayton Children’s vision of reinventing the path to children’s health with care centered on:
- Primary care as the engine of health: expanding access to pediatric primary care as the most effective way to improve long-term outcomes and intervene early
- Integrated mental and physical health: addressing the mental health crisis by embedding behavioral health into every aspect of care
- Care in communities and schools: bringing services closer to where children live, learn and grow to remove barriers and reach families sooner
- Accountability through outcomes: using data and shared learning to continuously improve, measure impact and scale what works
“This moment allows us to confront a system that too often rewards care delivered in crisis rather than care that prevents it,” says Feldman. “With this investment, we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to get upstream, to intervene earlier and to redesign care in a way that supports the whole child. This is how we prevent the preventable and create healthier futures for children and families across our region.”
joining a learning network
As part of this transformation, Dayton Children’s will expand its ability to learn from and contribute to models of pediatric care across the country.
Through the Golisano Children’s Alliance — a national initiative that brings together children’s hospitals to expand services, strengthen collaboration and improve access to high-quality care close to home — Dayton Children’s will work alongside peer institutions to share insights, apply proven strategies and accelerate meaningful system-level change in pediatric health. As a member of the Alliance, Dayton Children’s will both benefit from and contribute to a growing national network committed to innovation, excellence and better outcomes for children and families.
honoring the investment
Dayton Children’s will honor this gift by naming the main campus on Valley Street as the Golisano Comprehensive Care Campus, a reflection of a shared commitment to changing the trajectory of children’s health for generations to come.
“This is about more than a name; it’s about what children and families will experience because of this investment,” says Jena Pado, vice president for Dayton Children’s Foundation and chief development officer. “When we meet families earlier, remove barriers to care and support the whole child, we change lives. That is the legacy this investment represents.”
*source – Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, Kids Count DataBook
**source – Medicaid data
about Tom Golisano
Tom Golisano, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and civic leader, is the founder of Paychex, Inc., the nation’s largest human resource company for small to medium-sized businesses. Mr. Golisano’s vision, perseverance, and action have left an indelible mark on a broad spectrum of issues that touch our lives – in business, healthcare, education, animal welfare, voter policies, politics, and tax reform. His investments are advancing entrepreneurship and driving the success of numerous businesses and start-ups. His philanthropic contributions to education, hospitals — including multiple children’s hospitals across the country that bear his name and numerous other organizations exceed $1 billion.
A fierce advocate for dignity and inclusion, in 1985 Tom Golisano applied his pioneering spirit to establish the Golisano Foundation to make the world a better place for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With more than $120 million in gross assets, it is one of the largest private foundations in the U.S. devoted to supporting programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities awarding grants to non-profit organizations in Western New York and Southwest Florida.
In 2025, Mr. Golisano launched the Golisano Children’s Alliance, a national initiative that provides strategic funding and brings together children’s hospitals across the United States to elevate pediatric care by expanding services, strengthening collaboration, and ensuring that children and families have access to the highest quality medical attention close to home. Together, Alliance members are building a nationally recognized network that exemplifies excellence, dignity, and innovation in pediatric health care.
Mr. Golisano formed and financially supports the Golisano Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship, where students receive a high quality business certificate and write their own entrepreneurial success stories, without having to take on enormous debt.
He is the author of two Books, “Built Not Born,” a Wall Street Journal best seller and “The Italian Kid Did It.”
Connect with him at Golisanofoundation.org, Facebook: @GolisanoFoundation, X: @GolisanoFdn, Instagram: @golisanofdn, YouTube: @GolisanoFoundation
contact us
If you are interested in pursuing a story about Dayton Children’s please contact public relations manager, Katie Solovey, at 937-673-4941 or by filling out a media inquiry through our contact us form.
