Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center received the largest single donation in its history — a $45 million pledge to help expand its mental health program for veterans, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The donation, from the Wounded Warrior Project, will support Rush's Road Home Program, which treats veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, depression and other related conditions at no cost.
Since the program's launch in 2014, it has treated more than 1,000 people. Hospital officials estimate the donation will help Rush treat another 5,000 veterans in the next five years.
The pledge, which will be distributed to Rush in stages, will help 1,500 veterans receive access to a three-week outpatient program focused on treating PTSD in patients who aren't responding to typical treatments. It also will help up to 3,500 more veterans and family members receive outpatient therapy and counseling.
"We're thrilled," Rush University Medical Center CEO Larry Goodman, MD, told the Chicago Tribune. "Besides the size of the donation, what it goes for is incredibly important. The services provided by the Road Home Program really treat those invisible injuries of war, which are unfortunately all too common in people returning from defending our country."