Two prominent Las Vegas community figures are lending their names to an ambitious fundraising campaign to build Southern Nevada’s first freestanding children’s hospital.
MGM Resorts International President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle and his wife Wendy have been named co-chairs of the Nevada Campaign for Kids, a philanthropic effort to support the construction of Southern Nevada’s first freestanding children’s hospital.
During a press event Monday morning inside The Mansion at the MGM Grand hotel-casino, the Hornbuckles said they wanted to get involved “to make a difference at scale.”
The Nevada Campaign for Kids initiative is organized through the Intermountain Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Intermountain Health, and aims to generate funds for the planned $1 billion pediatric facility in Las Vegas. The project is expected to break ground in 2026 at UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park.
“We are proud to support Intermountain Health’s vision for healthy children in Nevada, and to help rally our community around this important cause,” said Bill Hornbuckle. “Just like our children’s health, this campaign is bigger than an organization; it’s an investment in Nevada families, our friends and neighbors, our future workforce, families and economic development. It will change lives, and it takes a community to do that.”
Nevada ranks 48th in the nation for pediatricians per capita, Intermountain said, and Las Vegas is the only metropolitan area in the country with a population of at least 2 million without a freestanding children’s hospital. By 2023, more than 29,000 children traveled outside of Nevada for comprehensive specialty care, according to the health care provider.
Wendy Hornbuckle said it was time to “get to work” to ensure those Nevada families had a viable health care option closer to home.
“As parents and proud Nevadans, we know there is nothing more important than a child’s health, and we are inspired by Intermountain’s vision to create a place of healing and hope for children and their families,” she said.
Intermountain officials hope to open the children’s hospital by 2030.
“Nevada’s elected officials, health care and local leaders have been aware for many years of the need to bring a comprehensive children’s hospital to Las Vegas and improve the health of children overall,” said Mitch Cloward, president of Intermountain Health’s Desert Region, which includes southern Nevada and southwestern Utah.
The hospital is expected to generate more than $841 million in annual economic output, according to an independent research study conducted by Applied Analysis. Officials said the hospital will create roughly 1,300 jobs.
David Flood, president of the Intermountain Foundation and chief development officer for Intermountain Health, said, “With Hornbuckle’s trusted leadership and guidance, we will make transformative health care possible and accessible to every child in Nevada. Together, we will make history while impacting generations.”
Contact David Danzis at ddanzis@ theplayerlounge.com or 702-383-0378. Follow @AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.
