Prisma Health Midlands Foundation

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New Wheels for Precious Cargo

Caroline is Why We Give to Champions Society

Campaign, Patient Story

Pictured (l-r): Deitra, Claudia, Colonel Brian and Caroline Matthews

Getting pregnant was not easy for my husband and me. We knew we needed help. That’s what we did. Taking my prenatal vitamins under the care of my physician, our daughter was a planned pregnancy. We finally conceived; we were over-the-moon with excitement. At our 20-week check-up, we discovered our daughter, Caroline, would be born with Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus and Arnold Chiari Type II Malformation. We learned everything about her diagnosis. Upon her birth, her team of medical providers became like family. We’ve continued to nurture those relationships so that she receives the best care possible.

That’s why we give.

We give to Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands because we know everyone does not have access to the resources my husband and I have. We give because we not only want the best care for our daughter; we want to make sure that every child in South Carolina receives excellent care, too.

Rolling Along to New Wheels for Precious Cargo

Children's Hospital

Between Aug. 2020 and Jan. 2021, more than $430,000 was committed through our Foundation’s New Wheels for Precious Cargo campaign to fully fund a new critical care ambulance for Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands. The new, highly specialized ambulance will replace an aging vehicle. It’s bigger, and bigger is better—with enough space to transport up to two children, along with a dedicated critical care nurse and respiratory therapist for each child. The ambulance will be equipped with safety features, life-saving medical equipment and a DVD-player to help distract a child experiencing pain or anxiety. Although production is a bit delayed due to COVID-19, the chassis is now complete, and the ambulance box is under construction in Iowa. We are looking forward to celebrating the arrival of the ambulance this fall.

Even while the pediatric transport program waits on its new wheels, it continues to fulfill a vital role for our region by responding to calls from surrounding hospitals when a critically ill child needs to be transported. Just ask the Gaddy family of Winnsboro, S.C.

A fun afternoon outside in late April came to a terrifying—and painful—stop for six-year-old Brees Gaddy. After hopping off a bike into a pile of leaves, Brees was bit in the leg by a copperhead snake. His father rushed him to Providence-Fairfield County Emergency Room, where anti-venom medication was started and he was stabilized. The ER team determined Brees needed more specialized care, and Prisma Health’s pediatric transport team was called.

Pictured: Brees Gaddy (photo provided by his mother, Christon)
Read the full story in The Voice of Blythewood and Fairfield County

Brees is one of approximately 600 children, including preemature babies, transported by the team annually. We are grateful to all the generous donors who supported the campaign to help give critically ill babies and children the best chance at life.

New Wheels for Precious Cargo – Sandra Hinton’s Story

Campaign, Patient Story

Contributed by Sandra Hinton, mother of Lee Hinton

We established an endowment at Prisma Health Midlands Foundation in 2012 after our son, Trescott Lee Hinton, passed away unexpected in December 2011.

Lee was a paramedic and a father. A good guy gone too soon. He worked long hours to provide for his daughter but also to care for so many he encountered while running calls as a paramedic.

When he passed, we, as a family, were devastated and wanted a way to have his spirit and his energy to keep on giving. Our call to the Foundation and speaking to Diane Junis was comforting in knowing she would be able to help us. Diane gave us direction in a period when we needed a way to memorialize a very special person; professionally a skilled paramedic, the father of a beautiful daughter, a son and a big brother. The Lee Hinton Pediatric Transport Endowment was created.

Over the years, we have been able to provide education, training and equipment to support the Pediatric Transport team at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands.

Now, the need is broader reaching including the needs of the Transport team and the Midlands community. We were delighted to be able to kick off the New Wheels For Precious Cargo fundraising campaign for the new Pediatric Critical Care Ambulance with a gift of $25,000 from Lee’s endowment, and we hope others will consider contributing. We are so proud and know Lee would be proud, as a medic and a father, to lend a hand in this fundraising campaign.

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The story of Haley Bills, shared by her mother, Ashley

Campaign, Patient Story

Our daughter, Haley, had to be taken to MUSC unexpectedly when she was one day old. During a routine screen and an echocardiogram that followed, a significant heart defect was discovered.

Haley was taken by ambulance right away by the Prisma Health Pediatric Transport team to the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (PCICU) at MUSC. That day was a whirlwind, but thankfully Lexington Medical Center caught her condition in time. She was given the medication she needed to keep her heart pumping blood to where her body needed it. In the next few days, we learned Haley has a condition called an Interrupted Aortic Arch (IAA) and two holes in her heart called a VSD and ASD. Her IAA condition is extremely hard to catch in utero, which is why we didn’t know about it until after birth.

Haley had open heart surgery at 10 days old; without surgery, her body would not have been able to survive. July 1 was her surgery date, and her surgeon was able to completely repair her aortic arch so it can pump blood to the lower half of her body and patched her two holes. She spent another two weeks in the hospital, recovering and learning to eat with a bottle. Since leaving MUSC, we go to routine visits to her cardiologist at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands, Dr. Margaret Gray, for EKGs to ensure her heart is growing properly. We are happy to report Haley is healthy, and her doctors believe she will continue on that path. We are very thankful for all her doctors and nurses at Lexington, Prisma Health—Midlands and MUSC.

I accompanied Haley in the critical care ambulance to MUSC. The driver and two nurses were amazing. Her nurses monitored Haley very closely, and the driver kept me talking during the drive with any questions that I had. I didn’t know there was the need for pediatric ambulances. I always assumed everyone used the same, as I had never had to ride in one before that day.  I am excited that Prisma Health Midlands Foundation is raising money for a new critical care ambulance for critical children in the Midlands. 

Prisma Health Midlands Foundation’s “New Wheels For Precious Cargo” campaign will fund a new critical care ambulance for Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands. Children like Haley who need to be transported from the Midlands to MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston for a heart procedure, will be transported in the new ambulance.

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$425,000 New Critical Care Ambulance Funded For Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands

Campaign, Press Release

Columbia, S.C.— In August, Prisma Health Midlands Foundation launched the New Wheels for Precious Cargo campaign to fund a new, highly specialized critical care ambulance for the Prisma Health—Midlands Pediatric Transport team and Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands. Thanks to 96 donors, more than $425,000 was raised for a new, larger ambulance that will replace an aging vehicle.

When babies are critically premature or when children are severely ill and at another hospital within a 16-county region of S.C., the Pediatric Transport team at Prisma Health—Midlands is called, no matter what time of day. Within minutes, the specialized care team travels to the child’s location in the critical care ambulance to provide stabilization and safe transportation to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) or the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Columbia. Prisma Health—Midlands takes pride in providing the highest-level neonatal care available in the region, with Level III NICUs at Prisma Health Baptist Hospital and Prisma Health Richland Hospital. The NICU at Richland serves as the Regional Perinatal Center, and Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands has the only PICU in our region. The Prisma Health Pediatric Transport team also takes children who need heart surgery to MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston and children with severe burns to JMS Burn Center in Augusta. More than 600 critically ill children are transported each year.

The new ambulance will offer enough space to transport premature twins, along with a critical care nurse and respiratory therapist dedicated to each baby. Designed with children in mind, the ambulance will be equipped with safety features, life-saving medical equipment and a media system to help distract a child experiencing pain or anxiety.

“We are incredibly grateful to Prisma Health Midlands Foundation and all the generous donors who funded the new ambulance,” said Aaron Dix, executive director of Emergency Medical Services at Prisma Health. “Their generosity will help our team give critically ill babies and children the best chance at life.”


The new ambulance is in production now. For the latest updates, visit PrismaHealthMidlandsFoundation.org.

About Prisma Health Midlands Foundation

Prisma Health Midlands Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, engages community partners to enhance health care for patients and families served by Prisma Health—Midlands. For more information, visit PrismaHealthMidlandsFoundation.org.

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The story of Luke Fossell, shared by his mother, Karoline

Campaign, Patient Story

When Luke was just 10 days old, his heart failed. He went from perfectly healthy to fighting for his life in the span of 24 hours. We owe his life to his pediatrician, the Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands Emergency Department (ED), the Prisma Health Transport Team and the entire Pediatric Cardiology department at MUSC. 

Luke was transported by the fantastic transport team at Prisma Health. They met us in the ED and explained to my husband and I what to expect on the drive to Charleston and successfully intubated Luke prior to leaving Prisma Health. They kept me updated during our rainy two-hour drive and played a major part in keeping Luke alive, as his heart function was deteriorating rapidly. 

Luke was placed on life support for 12.5 days and spent 35 days at MUSC before being discharged home, still in heart failure and listed at the top of the heart transplant list. 

When Luke was 4 months old, he had heart surgery to close a large hole in his heart and was successfully weaned off of his IV heart medication. 

Luke just turned one and is thriving! He is still considered to be in heart failure and takes multiple medications daily to help his heart function. We are so thankful to everyone who played a role in saving Luke’s life, and will never forget the amazing transport team that worked hard to stabilize Luke and who went above and beyond to comfort us when our lives had been turned upside down. 

Prisma Health Midlands Foundation’s “New Wheels For Precious Cargo” campaign will fund a new critical care ambulance for Prisma Health Children’s Hospital—Midlands. Children like Luke who need to be transported from the Midlands to MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston for a heart procedure, will be transported in the new ambulance

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