The gift is specifically for the establishment of what will be called Ohana House, a structure for both inpatient treatment with an “innovative approach to child and adolescent behavioral health” as well as family counseling and other outpatient programs. Ohana, as you know if you saw Lilo and Stitch, means “family” in Hawaiian, a point clarified by Montage’s press statement about the project. Also in the statement is Elliott’s inspiration for the donation – her grandfather Ernest Buffett: In addition to construction of the Ohana House, a “significant portion” of Elliott’s $105.8 million gift will be placed in an endowment, in order to keep the Ohana initiative funded well into the future. Steven Packer, MD is the president and CEO of Montage Health, and he seems to have a sunny view of what the money will be able to do: “And so it is that, for as long as Bertie can remember, family and community have always seemed to not only go together, but to be the most important things in this life. It was in that spirit that in December she donated $105.8 million to Montage Health Foundation to transform mental healthcare for children and adolescents.”
