Intermountain Health’s Primary Promise Inspires More than $642 Million in Gifts to Build the Nation’s Model Health System for Children

(PRUnderground) October 23rd, 2025

Intermountain Health’s Primary Promise campaign to build the nation’s model health system for children has inspired more than $642 million in community gifts, making it the most significant investment ever made in the health and wellness of children in Utah.

Led through Intermountain Foundation, the transformative five-year Primary Promise campaign exceeded its original goal of $500 million to bring its vision to life through a vital partnership between Intermountain Health and philanthropic members of the community.

The Primary Promise campaign culminated in a special celebration and announcement that engaged Intermountain Health caregivers and leaders and patient families – including the child receiving Utah’s first fetal surgery while still in her mother’s womb.

She’s now 4 years old and thriving.

“We are grateful for the Intermountain Foundation’s leadership, and the community’s support of Primary Promise, which has transformed how Intermountain Children’s Health cares for our children, created stronger systems of support, and helped every child we serve live their healthiest life,” said Mandy Richards, RN, chief nursing executive at Intermountain Health and president of Intermountain Children’s Health. “Our community and generous donors have built a legacy of commitment that opens doors for children in our care today, and for those who will rely on us tomorrow to overcome their challenges and reach their full potential.”

Primary Promise is the single largest philanthropic initiative in Intermountain Health’s 50-year history. The multi-faceted plan addressed three goals:

• Strengthen Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital.
• Address the emerging needs of children.
• Extend access to comprehensive pediatric care to more communities across Utah and the Mountain West.

As the campaign progressed, so did its financial target – from $500 million to a minimum of $600 million – a bold shift in response to community calls for more behavioral health services that ultimately created the new Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Center, Taylorsville Campus.

Primary Promise goals also were addressed by providing robust fetal care including fetal surgery; expanding autism services, lifelong child health and safety initiatives, personalized medicine, and telehealth access to pediatric care; redesigning newborn intensive care and cancer spaces in Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake Campus; and by opening a second hospital campus, named the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Campus, in Lehi, Utah.

Primary Promise was led by four civic and community business leaders:

• Gail Miller, founder, owner, and past chair of Larry H. Miller Company, and chair emeritus of the Intermountain Health Board of Trustees.
• Crystal Maggelet, chair and CEO of FJ Management Inc. and Intermountain Health trustee emeritus.
• Steve Lund, co-founder and executive board chair of Nu Skin Enterprises.
• Spencer Zwick, co-founder & managing partner of Solamere Capital.

“Primary Promise is about being part of something greater,” Lund said. “To everyone who gave in memory of a loved one — as our family has — our hearts are with you, today and always. And your gifts have made a profound difference that honors those we love. Who could ask for a brighter legacy?”

Abigail Rose is a living legacy of Primary Promise.

In 2021, she became the first child ever to receive an in-utero fetal surgery in the state of Utah, through what is now called the Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital. Previously, this complex and often life-saving surgery was available at only a few hospitals nationwide.

When Abigail Rose’s mom, Alisha, was pregnant, an ultrasound showed that her fetus had spina bifida – a condition that leaves an area of the spine open and nerves exposed.

Doctors performed surgery on the fetus to address the anomaly. At the time, Alisha was around 25-weeks gestation. That gave time so the fetal spine could heal as part of its natural development.

A month after fetal surgery, Abigail Rose was born.

She has grown to become an energetic, happy, mobile 4-year-old, who lives with her family in Idaho Falls. She loves to play with her Barbies, ride horses, sing songs with her mom, dance with friends, and watch sports with her dad, Nick. Physical and occupational therapy has helped her to achieve milestones that her family never expected to see, from crawling to walking with a walker.

“We took a leap of faith with fetal surgery, and they saved Abby,” Alisha says. “The future for Primary Children’s patients is already brighter because of our fetal surgery. It’s phenomenal to have this in our region. The people who gave to Primary Promise have helped more kids than they’ll ever know. Abby is living proof.”

Here’s how Primary Promise has helped kids and families:

Autism Services were added to address a rapidly increasing need.

• The Adaptive Care Program launched last year, supporting nearly 500 children with a developmental disability.
• Primary Children’s Applied Behavior Analysis clinic opened earlier this year at Intermountain Riverton Hospital to support children with autism and their families.

Behavioral Health

• Primary Children’s programs have grown by 78% in the last five years, providing care for 40% more children during that time.
• More than 10,000 children served in 2024.
• The new Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Center opened in Taylorsville in the summer of 2025, with family-centered care, hospital and clinic programs, and a walk-in crisis center that’s always open. The State of Utah invested $25 million to help build the center.

Grant Scott Bonham Fetal Center is the first of its kind in the Mountain West and is Utah’s only comprehensive fetal care center, offering world-class treatment for high-risk pregnancies, including fetal surgeries.

• 2,000 patients are served each year.
• First fetoscopic laser ablation for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome performed in 2023.

Healthy Kids keeps children safe and healthy in their homes and communities.

• In 2024, nearly 900 families were referred to the Mom, Baby, and Family Home Visiting Program, which provided more than 550 home visits per month, to help families get off to a great start.
• 92,000 books were given to families through the Reach Out and Read Program during their well-child checkups.
• Triple the number of safety devices, such as infant car seats and helmets, were given to families in 2024.

Network of Care brings Primary Children’s care closer to home through telehealth visits with pediatric experts.

• 450,000+ telehealth visits since 2021 have connected kids and families with pediatric care experts.
• More than half of the children seen in emergency telehealth visits last year were safely allowed to return home to recover, avoiding unnecessary hospital stays.
• The School-Based Telehealth program launched in 2023, allowing 96% of kids to receive care and return to class, saving an estimated 15,000+ days of school.

Newborn Intensive Care: A modern, state-of-the-art Level 4 NICU provides newborn babies with the most focused level of specialty care.

• NICU rooms are designed for families to stay with their babies.
• Families who can’t be there in person can access Angel Eye Camera Technology – they did so 78,000 times last year – to check on their baby anytime, from anywhere.

Personalized Medicine

• 150+ patients with complex medical conditions last year received rapid whole genome sequencing to speed up diagnosis and customize treatment.
• 4,000+ patients received integrated genetic services in 2024.

Second Hospital Campus

The Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Campus opened in Lehi in February 2024 to serve the rapidly growing pediatric population in southern Salt Lake County and Utah County. This new hospital provided exceptional care for the community during its first year, including the following:

• More than 18,000 patients visited the Emergency Department.
• More than 72,000 clinic visits.
• More than 14,000 patients stayed the night in the hospital closer to home.

Sorenson Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders is a redesigned cancer care space to provide cutting-edge, nationally ranked care at Primary Children’s Hospital — Salt Lake Campus.

• 200+ children rang the bell to celebrate the end of their cancer treatment last year.
• 2 academic endowed chairs were created:
  • Ryan and Ashley Smith Presidential Chair
  • FIVE For the Fight Chair in Pediatric Cancer Research.

Teen-to-Adult Care gives teens skills and resources to live their healthiest lives into adulthood.

• The Primary Children’s Hospital “You & I Health Club” supports teens as they move into adult care for diabetes, heart, and other chronic conditions.
• 442 patients supported in 2024.

“Together we’re directly contributing to lifesaving and life-changing advancements for children everywhere,” Zwick said. “It’s truly an honor for us to help write the next page beyond the history of this revered cause.”

Intermountain Health’s work to build the nation’s model health system for children will continue. In Montana, specialty care access for children is expanding. In Nevada, Intermountain is creating a comprehensive campaign for children’s health with plans to build Nevada’s first standalone children’s hospital in Las Vegas.

“With you, our donor family, we’ve created an enhanced environment to provide the best pediatric care in the world,” Miller said. “Our legacy is that we did not hesitate. And this work will continue to move forward. We invite every member of the community, within and beyond these walls, to partner with us, so that together, we will forever keep The Child First and Always.”

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, over 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://news.intermountainhealth.org/.

The post More than $642 Million in Gifts for Intermountain Health’s Primary Promise first appeared on

Original Press Release.