Tim Tebow Building Children’s Hospital in Philippines
The Tim Tebow Foundation and CURE International are building a children’s hospital in the Philippines’s Davao City.
Dubbed the Tebow CURE Hospital, the surgical facility will offer 30 beds and focus primarily on orthopedics. Ground will break in January and the hospital is expected to open its doors in mid-2013. The project marks the first effort in a partnership announced in October.
Choosing the Philippines for the first Tebow-CURE hospital is no coincidence. Tebow, the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos and a Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Florida, was born there.
“I was born in the Philippines and my parents have been missionaries to that area since 1985. The Philippines have always had a special place in my heart,” Tebow says. “I’m excited to be a part of this hospital that will bring healing to thousands of children who would not otherwise have access to care.”
The hospital, which is CURE’s first in the Philippines and 12th worldwide, will be on the island of Mindanao, a particularly poor area of the Philippines.
“Throughout the world, 80 million children suffer every day with crippling conditions like clubfoot and spine deformities, conditions that are correctable with surgery,” says Dr. Scott Harrison, the founder and president of CURE International. “We feel blessed that the Tim Tebow Foundation has chosen to partner with us to bring first-world quality care and spiritual healing to the children of the Philippines.”
The hospital will house a Timmy’s Playroom, which will provide faith, hope and love to children before and after their surgeries. It will be the Tim Tebow Foundation’s first international playroom.
The construction project is expected to cost $3 million, with donors from CURE and the Tebow Foundation sharing the costs. About one-third of the children treated at the hospital are expected to be charity cases.
