For Release: 06-20-2007

Telethon for Primary Children's Medical Center Draws Surprise $500,000 Pledge from Medical Device Inventor and Philanthropist James LeVoy Sorenson

'Everyone Loves Primary Children's Medical Center, and So Do I,' Said Inventor of First Computerized Heart Monitor, First Modern Disposable Intravenous Catheter, and Many of the Other Healthcare Devices Used Everyday by Physicians in U.S. Hospitals. Sorenson's Half-Million Dollar Gift Will Go to Support Charity Child Healthcare that Primary Children's Medical Center Provides to Intermountain Children In Need.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (June 20, 2007) — Local biotechnology pioneer and philanthropist James LeVoy Sorenson tuned in to a Utah TV station broadcasting the Primary Children's Medical Center annual telethon on Sunday, June 3—and then kicked in a $500,000 pledge of his own. Sorenson's telephone call donating a half-million dollars stunned the volunteer who took it and delighted fundraisers for the Intermountain West's most renowned pediatric hospital.

"Everyone loves Primary Children's Medical Center, and so do I," said Sorenson. A Salt Lake resident his entire adult life, Sorenson created and produced many modern healthcare devices that are now standard equipment in the healthcare industry, including the first modern intravenous catheter and the first paper surgical mask. Inspired by the medical computer work of Dr. Homer Warner of LDS Hospital in the early 1970's, Sorenson created an intravenous catheter that could reach into the human heart. He married this indwelling catheter to a computer and came up with the world's first computerized heart monitor.

Understandably, the volunteer for the Primary Children's Medical Center telethon who took Sorenson's call had difficulty believing a half-million-dollar pledge was credible, and sought help from Sharon Goodrich, director of Primary Children's Medical Center Foundation. Luckily, Goodrich knew of Sorenson and recognized him when she took the phone.

"Mr. Sorenson's surprise pledge of $500,000 during our telethon made it seem like Christmas in June," said Joseph Mott, CEO of Primary Children's Medical Center. "We'll be telling that story to volunteers for many years to come."

Sorenson grew up in a poor family during the Great Depression and is a long-time patron of organizations that serve children. He was the primary donor for the Sorenson Multi-Cultural Center on Salt Lake City's west side. And in June 2006, he pledged $1 million in matching funds to provide emergency dental care coverage for 40,000 blind, disabled and elderly Utah residents that the legislature had dropped from Medicaid funding. Recently he donated $40,000 to Salt Lake City's Cancer Wellness House after reading about their fundraiser in the local newspaper. The Cancer Wellness house is using his donation to renovate its Children's Cottage.