January 20, 2010                                                                      Contact: Matt Splett
                                                                                                      Media Coordinator
                                                                                                      splettm@health.missouri.edu 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    (573) 882-5663

COLUMBIA, Mo. — University of Missouri Health Care’s Children’s Hospital is seeking support from the local community as it competes for $50,000 in the Children’s Miracle Network’s “North America’s Most Caring Radio Station” contest.

Beginning Monday, Jan. 18, through Friday, Feb. 5, participants can go online to radiocares.childrensmiraclenetwork.org, and vote for the Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon partner of their choice. The radio station with the most votes at the end of the four-week campaign will win $50,000 to put toward its 2010 Radiothon total.

To support MU’s Children’s Hospital in the contest, participants are asked to vote for radio station Y107, of the Zimmer Radio Group.

Participants must log in to vote. Contest rules allow up to 10 votes per day.

In the fall, Zimmer Radio Group hosts the local Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon, benefiting Children’s Hospital. The three-day event features former and current patients, along with doctors, nurses and staff from Children’s Hospital, sharing their experiences on the radio. Every dollar contributed stays locally to support the health care needs of patients in mid-Missouri.

MU Children’s Hospital is a member of the Children’s Miracle Network, a year-round fundraising program to benefit hospitals providing health care for children. Created by the Osmond Foundation in 1983, the Children’s Miracle Network includes more than 170 hospitals worldwide.

Children’s Hospital is the largest and most comprehensive pediatric health care center in mid-Missouri. Housed at University Hospital and Columbia Regional Hospital, the 115-bed hospital is the only facility in mid-Missouri offering comprehensive, specialized children’s services such as trauma care, neonatal transport, child life therapy, a pediatric intensive care unit and a pediatric hematology and oncology outpatient unit.