Where Is the Heart of Orange County?
Orange County, a place that frames each of our identities, is a loose collection of 35 cities spread across 800 square miles and four diverse geographic zones—north, south, coastal, and inland—each with its own history and socioeconomic character. We are a community of three million people with no apparent center, no downtown, no Main Street, and no single figure to look to for leadership and a sense of shared values.
In this tenuous coalition of different people and varied places, what is it that connects us fundamentally as human beings? What forges common cause out of our individual concerns and reveals a shared destiny for millions of separate lives?
Our children make us one.
Nothing ties the people of Orange County together more than the love we have for our children and the hope we share for their potential. The well-being of all Orange County families is rooted in the health and well-being of every one of our children.
If our children make us one, then one place in Orange County keeps us whole—Children’s Hospital of Orange County. CHOC Children’s is the only Orange County institution that exists solely to nurture, advance, and protect the health and well-being of children. All children. This is CHOC Children’s mission—a calling that drives every action we take.
Protecting children’s health is one of the most important investments we can make for our future. CHOC Children’s stands ready. Will you stand with us at the heart of Orange County?
Read chapter 2 of the CHOC Story, “What is a children’s hospital?” 