The Campaign for St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor is turning to the general public to raise the final $1 million of its $10 million goal that will support enhancements to the new hospital’s healing environment.

Thus far, the campaign has generated nearly $9 million from personal solicitations of prospective major donors.

Now for each campaign gift of $250 or more received between Nov. 1, 2008 and Feb. 28, 2009, donors will be offered special recognition on the St. Anthony Hospital campus with a granite paver brick inscribed with his or her name. The pavers will surround a birch grove in the hospital’s healing garden and forever be a part of the hospital campus.

This initiative will help the Campaign for St. Anthony raise the $500,000 in new gifts and pledges it needs to secure a one-for-two, $250,000 "challenge grant" from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Wash. The Murdock Trust has pledged to contribute $1 for every $2 raised from other donors over the next four months, up to a maximum Murdock contribution of $250,000. Securing the Murdock challenge grant will generate a combined total of $750,000 to help build and equip St. Anthony Hospital.

"This is a critical point in our campaign," says Gig Harbor resident Bob Krotz of the Franciscan Foundation, who is directing of the Campaign for St. Anthony. "We are very close to achieving our original fundraising goal to ensure that our new hospital in Gig Harbor will be a world-class facility for holistic healing of the mind, body and spirit."

In addition to the $250 named paver bricks, other donor-recognition opportunities include permanent listing of the names of contributors of $1,000 or more on St. Anthony’s donor wall in the hospital’s main lobby, and options for donors of $25,000 or more to name hospital rooms, lobbies, gardens and other parts of the hospital.

For more information about the Campaign for St. Anthony, contact the campaign office at (253) 857-1436 or email bobkrotz@FHShealth.org.

Campaign supports hospital’s healing environment

The campaign’s funding objectives include:

• $5.1 million for advanced medical equipment such as an interventional radiology imaging system to support sophisticated procedures that will benefit stroke and aneurysm patients; nuclear gamma cameras for diagnostic imaging services; an operating room integration system that will support efficient delivery of care; and special equipment needed for patient rooms in the intensive care unit.
• $3.7 million for outpatient care facilities and equipment, including some construction costs for the Jane Thompson Russell Cancer Care Center; purchasing a digital imaging system for the hospital’s mammography unit; building and equipping the Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy Center.
• $750,000 for enhancements to the overall healing environment at St. Anthony, including gardens and water features for the hospital campus; and original paintings, tapestries, sculpture and other art objects for display at high visibility sites in and around the new hospital.
• $500,000 to launch a cancer care endowment that will underwrite the costs of providing complementary cancer therapies and establishing a Cancer Education Center. The center will be an important new resource for cancer patients and their families who are coping with the disease.

The Campaign for St. Anthony began in 2007 with a $1.5 million gift from the George F. Russell Jr. Fund at The Russell Family Foundation in Gig Harbor. The largest single donation received thus far is a $2 million gift from the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation. More than 450 donors have boosted the campaign’s total pledges to nearly $9 million, with 21 contributors pledging $100,000 or more.

World-class care, close to home

Services at St. Anthony Hospital, which opens in March 2009, will include:

• 24-hour emergency department
• Inpatient and outpatient medical care
• Inpatient and outpatient surgery
• Heart catheterization and vascular laboratory
• Outpatient cancer therapy Outpatient physical, speech and occupational therapies

The Milgard Medical Pavilion, the state-of-the-art office building that adjoins St. Anthony and is connected to the hospital by a sky bridge, will be home to physician offices and outpatient services.

St. Anthony Hospital is part of the Franciscan Health System, which is affiliated with Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the largest non-profit health systems in the nation. More information about St. Anthony Hospital is online at www.GigHarborhospital.org