New Children’s hospital has a $350,000 month

Arkansas donors have put up more than $350,000 dollars for the Arkansas Children’s Northwest hospital this month.

The Arkansas Children’s system Friday announced that Stephen Lair and Steve Turner donated $250,000 to the Springdale facility before its expected opening next month. Lair and Turner co-own Petromark Inc., which sells fuel in several states and runs White Oak Station convenience stores throughout the Ozarks.

Earlier this month, the Festival of Stars Radiothon in Little Rock raised about $323,000 for Arkansas Children’s as a whole, according to a news release from the hospital. The Northwest campus will receive about $101,000 from that effort, Arkansas Children’s Foundation spokesman Ashley Leopoulos said.

The new 230,000-squarefoot hospital will have clinics and labs, 24 inpatient beds, a pediatric emergency department, several operating rooms and other services. Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock will remain the site of the most critical procedures.

Hospital officials have said the 37-acre property the Northwest Arkansas hospital stands on, just off Interstate 49, will also allow for expansions.

Total gifts from area companies, other organizations and the public for the new hospital reached $67 million with the latest donations, nearing an overall fundraising goal of around $70 million.

“Arkansas Children’s Northwest is set to open in less 30 days, and it will take gifts of all sizes to help open the doors,” Fred Scarborough, chief development officer for the Arkansas Children’s system and president of its foundation, said in the Friday release.

Donations are being accepted at giving.archildrens.org.