Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach Receives a $100,000 Grant from Wells Fargo to support the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center Expansion

Long Beach, Calif., April 12, 2011 - The Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center (JJCCC) at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation to help fund a portion of the its third floor expansion project. The third floor of the pavilion will be the new home to the JJCCC Pediatric Cancer Center. Currently, JJCCC treats more than 800 children each year, with only a 14 bed capacity.

In order to serve the needs of the region, the pediatric hematology/oncology program needs to expand by completing the currently shelled third floor of the new pavilion with private rooms and to establish permanent endowments to support the unit.

The JJCCC Pediatric Cancer Center will create a more patient and family-centered environment. The new center will increase capacity and improve patient care by increasing the number of private rooms from 14 beds to 24 beds. The new center will create a warmer healing environment with a much larger playroom, garden area and “city” themed environment, providing patients and families with distractions from the typical hospital settings. It will allow family privacy and a home-like setting with private rooms and comfortable space for the families and the care team. The new center also will decrease risk of infection with HEPA filtration, private and designated rooms for recreation and therapy in order to ensure a cleaner and safer space.

In order to achieve this leading center for kids with cancer and serious blood disorders, philanthropic gifts from those in the community are necessary to expand. Miller Children’s developed the giveHope Fundraising Initiative to offer different opportunities for donations including: naming opportunities, endowments and trusts, corporate giving and event sponsorship.

Ben Alvarado, Wells Fargo Long Beach Coastal Community Banking regional president, and chairman of the Miller Children’s Advisory Board and JJCCC Fundraising Initiative, recognized the need and importance of financial support for community and local not-for-profit organizations like Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach.

“While visiting the center, I was moved by the inspirational stories of the children and their families in the oncology unit,” said Alvarado. “Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach is a symbol of hope for patients, families and the community and Wells Fargo is proud to support them.”

Miller Children’s has named the new nurses station and welcome area inside the new JJCCC cancer center in recognition of Wells Fargo’s generous gift. The new nurse’s station and welcome area is the face of the third floor and the first comforting area patients and families will encounter.

Psychosocial studies made by JJCCC proved that kids’ health is affected even by the physical design of their space and surrounding environment. Walking in, there are significant differences from ordinary hospital wings. The counters of the nurses stations are low, fun shapes are stamped onto the floor tiles, pops of color brighten the space and a rooftop garden offers natural beauty and life to the hospital windows.

This donation is a stepping stone towards the continuity of care that helps ensure high-quality patient care, as well as offering patients and families’ peace of mind and familiarity with the healthcare professionals who will guide them through their stressful experience.

For more information on giveHope or for a tour of the new pavilion contact Senior Major Gifts Officer, Brett Beck, at (562) 933-1676.

About the Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center
The Jonathan Jaques Children’s Cancer Center (JJCCC) at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach provides quality, compassionate care to children with cancer, sickle cell disease and other serious blood disorders, encompassing the medical, emotional, and social needs of patients and their families, from diagnosis, to treatment and beyond. The Center is known for its comprehensive psychosocial programs and multidisciplinary approach to patient care in the hospital, day care (the infusion center), clinic areas, home health and community outreach programs. An emphasis on integrating new research efforts into treatment plans allows patients access to leading therapies. For more information, please visit: www.millerchildrens.org/cancer.

About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.3 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com and wachovia.com), and other distribution channels across North America and internationally. We want to help all of our customers succeed financially and create long-term economic growth and quality of life for everyone in our communities. In 2010, the Company invested a record $219 million in grants in 19,000 nonprofits, and team members contributed more than 1.3 million volunteer hours around the country. For more information, please visit: www.wellsfargo.com/about/csr.