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NASHVILLE, TN – (October 29, 2010)  -  In a special event today, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt named its Pediatric Surgery Center after the superstar country music group Rascal Flatts. Through their hard work and generosity the band has combined to donate more than $3 million to Children’s Hospital.  The group’s contributions will allow the “RascalFlatts Surgery Center” to include a new specialized radiology suite, which will further expand services offered to patients.

                Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney, who were honored today during a ceremony at Children’s Hospital, also hosted a Halloween party with an intimate performance for patients and their families.  The group also visited children room-to-room to deliver Halloween treats and prizes. 

Today’s special event marks the sixth consecutive year the band has visited the hospital and performed for the patients.

The award-winning group said they were truly humbled by the hospital’s display of appreciation.

“We became involved with the work at Children’s Hospital so that children will continue to have a wonderful place to get better and to help their families move on with their lives,” said LeVox. “We have built some long-lasting relationships, not only with the staff, but with some of the kids and their parents as well.”

The “Rascal Flatts Surgery Center” will house all of Children’s Hospital’s existing and new surgical programs.  More than 12,700 pediatric surgeries are performed each year at Children’s Hospital.  Doctors conduct general and specialized surgeries on children, from infancy to adolescence, to address a myriad of congenital and acquired health conditions.  The new radiology suite will be used for challenging surgical procedures such as liver transplants and difficult abdomen and chest infections.

“We are honored by the extraordinary philanthropic commitment of Rascal Flatts to our patients and families at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt,” said Jonathan Gitlin, M.D., James C. Overall Professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics.  “The clinical work done in this new radiology suite permits us for the first time through the generosity of Rascal Flatts to make discoveries in the science of patient care that will bring new hope to children in Nashville, Middle Tennessee and across America.”

A sign that bears the group’s name was unveiled today, which marks the entrance to the “Rascal Flatts Surgery Center” on the third floor of Children’s Hospital.

“All parents and children who enter the area will walk under the Rascal Flatts sign, but the words we write will never adequately express what they have done and how people like them, as well as others, allow us to do what we do,” said John W. Brock III, M.D., surgeon in chief of the Children’s Hospital.  “I continue to be amazed, as I have told them, by their level of commitment to this hospital.”

About Rascal Flatts:

Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney are celebrating 10 years of music this year and will release a new album on Nov. 16, Nothing Like This.  During this time they’ve become one of the hottest touring acts and the top country group of the new millennium. The band has delivered 11 #1 singles to the top of the charts and has more titles in Billboard’s Top 100 Songs of the Decade than any other group in the format.  In the past 10 years, the band has sold more than 20 million albums and 25 million digital downloads while all six of their studio albums make Billboard’s Top 100 Country Albums of the Decade listing. As the most awarded country group of the new Millennium, Rascal Flatts has brought home nearly 40 trophies from the Academy of Country Music, American Music Awards, Country Music Association, People’s Choice Awards and more.  

For additional information on Rascal Flatts go to www.rascalflatts.com.