BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen visited Oishei Children’s Hospital Wednesday to see the impact donations to The Patricia Allen Fund have made since it was launched in late 2020.
In November 2020, Oishei announced plans to honor Patricia Allen, Josh Allen's grandmother, after Bills fans began donating to the hospital in her honor following her death. Josh has long been a supporter and has a partnership with the hospital.
The plans to honor Patricia included the launch of The Patricia Allen Fund and the Patricia Allen Pediatric Recovery Wing on the hospital's tenth floor. The wing was unveiled to Josh in October 2021. When the fund was launched Oishei said it would "provide ongoing to the pediatric critical care team at Oishei Children’s Hospital who provide life-saving care to pediatric patients." Over $3 million in donations have been made since the creation of the fund. You can find a donation page for the fund here.
On Wednesday the Bills quarterback visited the hospital to see first-hand the impact donations to the fund have made.
You can find details of the visit provided by Kaleida Health below:
- The group showed Josh the pediatric trauma bay which was able to purchase a new and enhanced C-Arm, which helps the team provide X-rays right there, saving time in critical moments which in turn can be lifesaving. The team provided Josh with a demonstration of how the new equipment works.
- Dr. Jeremy Doak, Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon, shared that the new C-Arm is not just about capturing an image of a broken bone it “has a much lower dose of radiation than previous technology, eliminates worry of moving a patient in pain to a different location for an x-ray, and provides much higher-quality image and therefore much higher quality and safety, to the kids of Western New York.”
- From there they visited one of the hospital’s 15 operating rooms, outfitted with the most advanced equipment and tools for the region’s only pediatric surgery team. The team took Josh to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) to show him current equipment for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and explained how the Patricia Allen Fund is going to enhance and update the equipment to the newest available technology; the order is placed, they are just waiting for its arrival.
- They headed to the helipad to show Josh how patients are transported from emergency situations or other outer lying hospitals to safely get to OCH for their specialized care. As the team led him away from the helipad an infant was arriving for the specialized care available here in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
- Lastly, Josh was able to once again visit the ‘Patricia Allen Pediatric Recovery Wing’ which was unveiled to him in October, honoring his grandmother and recognizing the fans that donated in her memory to help kids at OCH.
- Josh spent an hour following visiting with patients, families and staff that he hasn’t been able to do in-person since prior to COVID-19.
