About the 2221 Society
Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation’s 2221 Society was formed in 2018 by like-minded leaders who are dedicated to transforming children’s health and supporting the Foundation’s mission. The 2221 Society name honors the first major transformation of Children’s Hospital Colorado, when a group of nurses providing care in tents at City Park moved the operation into a house at 2221 Downing Street in 1909.
The 2221 Society contributes philanthropic funding to Children’s Colorado to support important initiatives like cutting-edge research, treatment, therapy, education and advocacy. In partnership with Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation, the 2221 Society works to identify and fund projects that need significant philanthropic support and will advance pediatric medicine and care.
The 2221 Society operates under a d/b/a within Children’s Hospital Colorado Foundation, a 501(c)(3), but has autonomy to fund the projects of its choice. Donations to the 2221 Society will support the Foundation and are tax-deductible. To date, the 2221 Society has raised more than $3.5 million for Children’s Colorado.
Commitment levels of 2221 Society
In addition to setting goals, attending meetings, serving as a Children’s Colorado ambassador, recruiting new members and executing events, 2221 Society members are asked to make a personal financial commitment on an annual basis to positively impact Children’s Colorado’s mission. Membership is available at the following levels:
- Founder’s level – members give or fundraise $25,000 annually (3-year commitment)
- Catalyst’s level – members give or fundraising $15,000 annually (3-year commitment)
- President’s level – members give or fundraise $10,000 annually (3-year commitment)
- Friends of 2221 – members give or fundraise $2,221+ annually
In order to make an impactful difference at Children’s Colorado, the 2221 Society sets ambitious goals every year so that the group can truly move the needle and make transformational change for the hospital and its system of care. Members’ passion for Children’s Colorado shines through their financial commitments and their contagious, shared belief that a child’s life can and should be filled with limitless possibilities.
2026 Focus: Advancing Better Breathing Outcomes for Premature Babies
Every year, about 390,000 babies are born prematurely in the United States – approximately one in 10 births. Roughly 2,000 of these premature babies are treated at Children’s Hospital Colorado annually. Many of these tiny patients spend months on a ventilator in the NICU before going home. While this is a necessary lifesaving intervention, these patients are left with significantly lower lung function than a baby born after a full-term pregnancy. Lung disease of prematurity, a condition caused by underdeveloped lungs, can be associated with lifelong respiratory challenges, so having the right tools both in the NICU and post-discharge to diagnose and treat these conditions is critical to ensuring better outcomes across the entire lifespan.
Until recently, the only imaging options for premature babies were techniques such as x-rays or CT scans of infants’ chests. These kinds of imaging have several drawbacks, including exposing infants to damaging ionizing radiation. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an emerging imaging technique that addresses many pitfalls of other methods for scanning infants’ lungs. EIT is non-invasive and radiation-free, using only a padded adhesive strap around a baby’s chest. EIT machines are portable, so scans can be done in the NICU with the baby’s doctors and nurses at the ready. The machines produce real-time imaging so doctors can monitor different factors, such as changes to ventilator settings and inhaled medication, to determine what is most effective as it is happening. As a result, doctors can provide personalized care for babies that can be adjusted in the moment, rather than through trial and error.
After babies leave the NICU, they often need supplemental oxygen as their lungs continue to grow. Weaning infants off of oxygen is a priority for families and doctors, but this process often takes months and is limited by availability of specialty appointments. Children’s Colorado will create a program for pulmonologists to gradually wean babies’ oxygen remotely through the use of wireless-enabled pulse oximeters. This will allow babies to continue to grow and thrive at home, receiving only the exact amount of oxygen they need.
How we’ll get there
Investments by the 2221 Society in this area will allow many more premature babies to have access to EIT imaging, enabling more personalized care and making it possible for Children’s Colorado to develop the first comprehensive EIT program of its kind anywhere in the country. In addition, integrating this innovative technology will allow physicians to track clinical outcomes and improve bedside care, supporting preterm babies’ optimal lung growth and development over the course of their lives. We anticipate these advances will result in the following outcomes:
- Fewer days spent in preterm babies on a ventilator in the NICU
- Less injury to their delicate preterm lungs
- Shorter lengths of stay in the NICU
- Weaning oxygen after hospital discharge via remote patient management
- Ongoing clinical research excellence for care of preterm infants of Colorado
2221 Society Fundraising Goal: $800,000
Funding from the 2221 Society will support the technology and workforce needed for our three arms of work, all critical to improving lung growth and development for premature babies, including 1) implementation of the new EIT technology in the NICU; 2) remote oxygen monitoring after babies are discharged from the hospital; and 3) long-term tracking of patients over the course of their development through longitudinal data collection. Importantly, this philanthropic support will ensure continuity of care beyond the hospital, offering families peace of mind as their children grow. Join us in advancing this groundbreaking work and ensuring brighter beginnings for our tiniest patients.
Join us
The 2221 Society’s philanthropic investment will be the catalyst to advance both this novel technology in the short term and analysis of patient outcomes in the long term. This will create a vast ripple effect in impacting countless patients’ and families’ lives.
Give Now Contact 2221 Society
2221 Society’s impact on Children’s Colorado
Because kids are coming to Children’s Hospital Colorado emergency departments at an alarming pace, the North Campus Emergency Department (ED) needed to make renovations that enable the delivery of healing mental health crisis services.
Fundraising by the 2221 Society helped the North Campus ED revamp its mental health intake process, which required significant, costly renovations, modifications and construction. Now, every patient who enters the ED receives an initial mental health acuity score. Mental health patients are placed on tracks – and provided with specially designed spaces – using an approach to care that recognizes the impact of trauma. With this newly designed environment and patient flow, care providers expect to dramatically reduce patient stays in the ED. Thousands of kids and families will benefit from these upgrades.
A genetic test can be a critical tool in helping a child battling disease by enabling diagnosis, reducing treatment time, and alleviating the worry that accompanies the unknown. Genetic tests are also the foundation for future advances in precision medicine.
Fundraising from the 2221 Society has served as a catalyst for Children’s Colorado to add a second genetic sequencing platform that is devoted to urgent patient cases. In addition, now genetic panels can be conducted at a more competitive cost, so Children’s Colorado can offer genetic testing to more patients in need and provide enhanced genetic data to our researchers. These rapid advances in genetic testing propel scientific understanding of genetic conditions and create a vast ripple effect, impacting countless patients’ and families’ lives.
Outdoor healing and palliative care patios offer patients, families, and caregivers the chance to be in the open air and ease suffering, sorrow and trauma, including for end-of-life transitions, while also providing protection from varying environmental conditions.
Fundraising from the 2221 Society allowed Children’s Colorado to upgrade and renovate these two spaces, equipping them with electricity, outlets, hospital bed umbrellas, and all the support needed for medical equipment and treatments, including chemotherapy, impacting thousands of kids and their families during some of the most challenging times of their lives.
The Simulation Lab Program provides experiential learning opportunities that help medical professionals practice their craft, identify problems, and prepare for a variety of medical circumstances in conditions that mimic a hospital environment.
Fundraising from the 2221 Society enabled Children’s Colorado to offer these vital training and education services to more providers and will create a dedicated Simulation Training Center, providing a dedicated space for team members to practice basic and procedure-based medical skills.
In addition, the 2221 Society hosted a golf tournament, 2221 Society x Sanctuary, to raise funds for Children’s Colorado’s Asthma Program, helping kids with one of the most common chronic illnesses of childhood.
Partners for Children’s Mental Health is a statewide entity that brings together health care, policy and thought leaders to improve access to the highest-quality mental health services for kids.
Fundraising from the 2221 Society supported the state-wide implementation of an innovative software technology that helps equip rural health care providers with the tools, skills and support required to respond to mental health needs in their communities.
Children’s One enables Children’s Colorado’s flight team to transport patients from around the U.S. and even from around the world. When a family is in critical need of care, Children’s One is there to make the transport as seamless as possible, ensuring the safety of critically ill or injured children as they receive world-class care.
Fundraising from the 2221 Society fully outfitted a vehicle, while also ensuring the medical equipment and innovative technologies stay up to date.
Children’s Colorado’s Extended Reality Program has emerged as a national leader in using innovative technologies as adjunctive therapies to enrich the patient experience and the care of children.
Fundraising from the 2221 Society has allowed more patients to benefit from the extended reality state-of-the-art technology which greatly enhances their experiences at Children’s Colorado and their recoveries.
