Esther Wachtell Stands Up For Los Angeles Children’s Hospital,

1. OJAI Resident Esther Wachtell Advocates for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
Esther Wachtell’s dedication to culture, education and family values is an inspiration to all.
Wachtell is the founder and retired president of The Wachtell Group, a fundraising company that
specializes in large scale fundraising efforts. When she is not actively campaigning for
donations to fundraising or advising the arts, Ms. Wachtell is doing one of her favorite things:
spending time with her family, playing tennis, or reading a good book.
Wachtell’s fundraising efforts over the years have been tireless and one of the causes nearest and
dearest to her heart is Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Wachtell currently serves as a board
member for the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Wachtell recently completed her term as Chair
of the Development Committee for the hospital where she was an integral part of a fundraising
campaign that raised nearly 1 billion dollars. This fundraising effort is the largest ever campaign
in the United States for a children’s hospital.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was founded in 1901 with the goal of treating the most
seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles. The hospital has been meeting this goal for
more than a century. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is known around the world for its
leadership in children’s healthcare. Esther Wachtell has been a passionate advocate of the
hospital for many years. Her term as Chair of the Development Committee was the most
successful fundraising effort in the hospital’s history. But Wachtell is quick to point out that
fundraising on behalf of this premier teaching hospital cannot slack off or end. The hospital
needs a constant influx of donations in order to carry on the work in healing children that they’ve
been so successful at for more than 100 years.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is a national leader in pediatric research and has been named
one of the top pediatric hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report every single year
since 1990. The hospital treats 62,000 children and adolescents per year in its Emergency
Department. More than 11,000 patients per year are admitted to the hospital. Fifty percent of
those 11,000 patients are children under four years old. The hospital runs 29 outpatient clinics.
Wachtell chaired the most successful and largest fundraising effort in hospital history but it is her
fondest wish that her efforts be eclipsed by an even greater campaign so that Children’s Hospital
Los Angeles can go on healing the children of Los Angeles for another century.