“We are so thankful for this extremely generous donation,” said Anne Neeson, Executive Vice President and CEO of the Memorial Hermann Foundation. “Life Flight is a critical service to Greater Houston and the surrounding areas, and it’s imperative that these aircrafts are consistently updated to be at peak performance. We are grateful for the partnership of the John M. O’Quinn Foundation and its recognition of the importance of this service to our community.”
The $5 million gift is the first donation that will go towards the $42 million effort to replace the Life Flight fleet which will provide the Greater Houston area with five new helicopters, expanding the air ambulance program’s service range and optimizing flight safety and onboard patient care. Life Flight performs an average of 4,000 missions annually, on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, transporting patients in need of the highest level of care to the Red Duke Trauma Institute at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (TMC), the busiest Level I trauma center in the nation.
“We know the city of Houston has come to rely on Life Flight, so we are honored to do our part in helping support those efforts,” said Rob Wilson III, President of The John M. O’Quinn Foundation. “We appreciate Memorial Hermann’s commitment to helping save lives through this service, and we want to help ensure that commitment can continue for many decades to come.” The John M. O'Quinn Foundation has been a partner of Memorial Hermann for nearly a decade, supporting neurosciences, Life Flight and even frontline health care staff during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The John M. O’Quinn Foundation supported the relocation of Life Flight to the Sarofim Pavilion on the Memorial Hermann-TMC campus just a few years ago. In recognition, the Life Flight Command Center is named for this generosity.
John M. O'Quinn (1941-2009) established The John M. O’Quinn Foundation in 1986. With his death in 2009, Mr. O'Quinn willed his entire estate to the Foundation. In honoring Mr. O'Quinn's legacy, the John M. O'Quinn Foundation's predominant focus reflects his lifetime of support of education, health care, environment and the lives of underprivileged youth in Houston, Texas and the surrounding areas. The Trustees of the John M. O'Quinn Foundation are Robert C. Wilson III, Michael J. Lowenberg, David A. Ott, MD, and W. Jeffrey Paine. The Trustee Emeritus is Corbin J. Robertson, III.