‘really good for the community, really good for kids’

A proud aunt from a large family, Dallas native Cathleen Crews loves talking about her five nieces and nephews. She keeps up with their latest achievements and stays involved in their lives — present for all of life’s ups and downs.

And when her then 4-year-old niece, Campbell, needed brain surgery at Children’s Health℠ several years ago, she was there by her brother and sister-in-law's side.

Cathleen remembers sitting outside in the courtyard at Children’s Medical Center Dallas with her family during the hours-long surgery, trying to pass the time. The Texas sun was particularly hot that day, she recalls, and Campbell’s surgery turned out to be more complicated than they expected.

The family was scared, but the medical staff checked in regularly, assuring them the surgery was progressing.

These days, her niece, now 6, is thriving. Cathleen is grateful her family had access to world class specialists at Children’s Health in their own backyard. She’s thankful Campbell’s parents didn’t have to take their daughter out of state to receive the treatment she needed.

“It’s personal to me. Should something happen to any of these people who are the most important people to me in my entire life, I want them to have the right care here,” she said.

Cathleen is the founder and CEO of Orchid Advisory, a boutique multi-family office in Dallas, where she navigates the complexities of family wealth to help empower and support her clients.

When she meets with clients, Cathleen focuses on all the pieces that make up the bigger picture: investments, taxes, estate planning, cash flow, insurance and philanthropy. She talks about philanthropic giving — what’s important to them and how they can make a difference — and together, they discuss opportunities.

One of those opportunities is supporting the future of Children’s Health through the new pediatric Dallas campus. A joint investment with UT Southwestern Medical Center, the new campus will be one of the country’s largest and most transformative pediatric hospitals.

She says it’s important for everyone — financial advisors and clients included — to know what’s going on locally so they can be involved and help the community grow.

“The more people who know about the new campus, the better,” Cathleen said. “Let’s get the word out. Who knows who you’re going to reach at the right time that’s going to result in a transformational donation, which leads to saving lives.”

She also serves on the Advisor Advocacy Alliance for Children’s Health. The Alliance is composed of some of the most mission-centric attorneys and community advisors from banking and wealth management to tax advising and investment, among others. Cathleen is one of six founding members, a select group chosen to provide guidance to the Children’s Medical Center Foundation and help spread awareness of our mission — to make life better for children — throughout their circles of influence.

Much like how Cathleen is setting her clients up for financial success for decades to come, the new pediatric campus will set up current and future generations of North Texas children for success.

The campus will provide the infrastructure needed for innovation and strategic collaborations between Children’s Health and UT Southwestern to transform pediatric medical and surgical health care delivery. The new hospital will be more than just a building, furthering our ability to pioneer innovative academic research and lifesaving treatments to care for the most complex pediatric patients in North Texas and beyond. 

“The new Dallas campus is really good for the community, really good for the economy, really good for kids, really good for medicine - there’s just so many positives about it,” Cathleen said.