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HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The Pin Oak Charity Horse Show is a three-week event that takes place in Houston each spring. The dollars raised there positively impact our community.
It's not only a fun, family event, it's a learning opportunity for children, plus it has been a unique fundraising opportunity for almost 70 years. Pin Oak has donated more than $6.5 million to Texas Children's, which is the largest pediatric medical institution in the world.
"The Pin Oak Charities, as I've learned over the years, is an incredibly active group who has supported TCH since its inception, or even before our inception in the 1940's," explains Dr. Lara Shekerdemian, who is the Chief of Critical Care at Texas Children's Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. She works in the Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower, which recently benefitted from Pin Oak. Funds from the horse show most recently went toward the state-of-the-art facility.
"Through their donations, to the main campus and west campus, we have been able to develop our inpatient and outpatient services. What is particularly exciting for me is their support of our brand new Legacy Tour, where we are sitting today, which is our new center for our heart center and critical care units and high acuity operating rooms," says Dr. Shekerdemian.
She goes on to say that the Lester and Sue Smith Legacy Tower is allowing doctors to offer a whole new level of care. It doubles the size of the older intensive care rooms, allowing families to comfortably stay with their sick children. Its Heart Center is equipped with sophisticated technology, to help treat the most serious cardiac problems.
"We could not have even dreamed about a service like this, or a tower like ours, without our donors," explains Dr. Shekerdemian.
Millions of appointments happen there each year, many of those made even better, by generous donations through the annual Pin Oak Horse Show.
"It's a wonderful partnership! No one wants their child to get sick, and nobody wants their child to be in my care, which is the intensive care, but we do our best to provide the best possible care for our community and our way for giving back, if that need arises," says Dr. Shekerdemian.
For more information, https://www.pinoak.org/
https://www.texaschildrens.org/locations/legacy-tower