The Russell Berrie Foundation Awards Englewood Hospital $1.5 Million Grant
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Russell and Angelica Berrie
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Englewood Hospital and Medical Center is the recipient of a $1.5 million challenge grant from The Russell Berrie Foundation. The gift, which requires the Medical Center to raise an equivalent amount, will benefit its $30 million Lifeline to Tomorrow Campaign for the new emergency care center.
“The exceptional generosity of the Berrie Foundation will be the catalyst for the completion of the community-wide campaign to fund the new emergency care center. The center is housed on the first floor of The Kaplen Pavilion, which opened last September to accolades from our patients and their families, the medical community, staff and numerous other parts of Englewood’s extended family,” said Douglas A. Duchak, president and CEO of the Medical Center.
“We are most grateful to the Berrie Foundation for this very important donation, and for its enduring friendship and inspirational leadership in the area of humanism, a belief system at the very core of the missions of both the foundation and the Medical Center,” continued Mr. Duchak.
The ties that bind the Berrie Foundation and the Medical Center go back to the 1990s, when the foundation awarded a $5 million challenge grant to build a state-of-the-art outpatient facility that would be a revolutionary environment for the practice of humanistic patient care. The Medical Center not only accepted the challenge and raised more than $5 million, it initiated an organizational overhaul to embrace the values of humanistic care—values that remain at the functional and spiritual core of the institution.
“Russ cared very much about putting the ‘care’ back in healthcare, in fostering patient-centered relationships and in ensuring our community's access to centers of excellence in humanistic medical care,” explained Berrie Foundation Board President Angelica Berrie. “Our country's medical institutions are so financially challenged that it endangers, in every community, the well-being of families who are struggling to survive. We have to do whatever we can to strengthen all our community's institutions, to contribute our resources as volunteers, donors, doctors, nurses and caregivers, to rise above our personal interests and to make whatever sacrifices are needed for the common good. The Russell Berrie Foundation has issued a challenge grant to encourage everyone to make a difference right here in our own community.”
Both The Russell and Angelica Berrie Center for Humanistic Care, which opened in 2004, and The Kaplen Pavilion reflect the Medical Center’s commitment to humanism. The transition from the previous Emergency Department has successfully relocated premier compassionate emergency care to a much more humanistic setting. Patients, family members, emergency services workers and caregivers have marveled at the comfort, privacy, and sheer artistry of the 40 private treatment rooms as well as the leading-edge technology, equipment, and systems now at their fingertips.
The Russell Berrie Foundation was founded by philanthropist Russ Berrie to express his values and passions and to make a difference in human lives through charitable giving and social and educational programs. Since his death in 2002, Angelica Berrie has been at the helm of the foundation, leading with the same passion she and her late husband shared when they worked side-by-side to achieve its goals. Ms. Berrie is also an honorary trustee of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center Foundation will raise the required matching funds from a variety of sources, most of which will be from the Medical Center’s service area. “This grant marks the beginning of the critical final stage of Lifeline to Tomorrow,” said Todd Brooks, acting executive vice president for Englewood Hospital and Medical Center Foundation. “With the help of what we know to be a supportive and giving community, we look forward to bringing this wonderful chapter in the history of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center to a momentous close. We are very proud that the The Kaplen Pavilion has been built completely through the support of the community and with no borrowed funds.” With the Berrie Foundation gift, the Lifeline to Tomorrow Campaign now needs to raise a total of $3.5 million to reach its goal.
“We hope that everyone, when asked to give, will be as generous as possible,” he continued. “You can be sure, each donor makes a difference.”
