August 2, 2010

Dear Friends:

Good news! On behalf of the Alameda County Health Care Foundation (ACHCF), I am pleased to announce that—thanks to the generosity of our donors, including many of you—we have just $97,000 left to raise in the angiography suite campaign.

On July 28, we presented a check for $864,000 to the ACMC Board of Trustees for the first phase of the construction for installation of the angiography suite. All that's remaining is the purchase of equipment! This is where we need your support.

The campaign was scheduled to end on June 30. While we are very close to the finish line, we are not quite there. We have requested a six-month extension from our major challenge grant donor to allow us sufficient time to reach our goal. 

This means that you, and your friends and family members, still have an opportunity to give to this vitally-important cause and bring this life-saving equipment to our community. If you’ve already given, please consider increasing your gift. For those who haven’t yet participated, I urge you to make a gift to the campaign. We’ve made it easy; simply go to www.achcf.org and click on Donate Now.

At the Alameda County Medical Center’s (ACMC’s) Board of Trustees' meeting on July 27, 2010, the Alameda County Health Care Foundation (ACHCF) presented a check to ACMC for $864,000 to cover the construction-related costs of the angiography suite installation. The remaining funds will cover the cost of the equipment itself. This is where your support is critically needed to help us raise the remaining $97,000 to secure the $1.350 million in challenge grants and foundation pledges that will ensure that this life-saving equipment is available to our community.

You’ve heard it before: each year, thousands of our patients would benefit from the services of the combined cardiac catheterization lab and angiography suite. As Dr. Khademi, Interim Chair of Imaging, tells us: “Of the more than 2,400 trauma patients we treat each year, the large majority would benefit from the angiography suite’s interventional radiology services.” Speaking of the cardiac catheterization services, Dr. Frohlich, Chief of Cardiology, notes that heart disease is at an epidemic level in our community, and states that: “Countless numbers of our patients and their families would benefit each year.”

Who are these “thousands” and “countless numbers” of patients? Here are a few examples, adapted from true stories, of these individuals. Undoubtedly, we all will recognize a friend, a family member, a co-worker, perhaps even ourselves, in these stories.

At the Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Gala held on June 5, 2010, 27 individuals and corporate donors answered the Fund-A-Need challenge posed by McKesson Provider Technologies and The Safeway Foundation. These organizations contributed $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, to the angiography suite acquisition campaign, and challenged attendees to contribute, as well.

No one knows the benefits that the angiography suite will provide to our patients better than Alameda County Medical Center’s Medical Community. Attesting to this, the Medical Community continues to lead the way for our entire community through their personal giving to the Heart-to-Heart Campaign.

The Medical Community Division has raised almost $95,000 and is only $5,000 short of their fundraising goal of $100,000. Dr. Barry Simon, Chief of the Emergency Department and Chair of ACHCF’s Medical Community Division, encourages his colleagues who have not have already made a gift to the Heart-to-Heart Campaign, as well as those who are able to increase their gift, to do so by contacting him or visiting ACHCF’s website (www.achcf.org) to donate online.  

“Individual philanthropy is on the decline!” claim newspapers around the country. Not so at the Alameda County Medical Center!

Proof of this is found within the Physicians’ Council, an affinity group of doctors who support the Medical Center through their personal giving to ACHCF’s campaigns. This group reaches out to colleagues on behalf of ACHCF, making annual and special appeals, and also advises ACHCF on opportunities, trends, and funding needs affecting the medical community at the Medical Center.

To date, 28 members of the Physicians’ Council have contributed to the Heart-to-Heart campaign at the $1,000+ level. Their generosity is recognized by the Physicians’ Council through membership in its Honor Societies. The following physicians have recently become first-time members of an Honor Society or have joined a new level by making an additional donation to increase their overall gift to the campaign:

Gold Heart Society ($5,000-9,999):
Thomas Frohlich, MD
Valerie Ng, MD
Barry Simon, MD

Dr. Patrick Connell Society ($2,500-4,999):
Ted Rose, MD
Charlotte Wills, MD

Pacesetters Society ($1,000-2,499):
Sang-ick Chang, MD
Johara Chapman, MD
Jay K. Harness, MD
Robert Savio, MD

What’s next? As we near the end of the campaign, and with optimism that we will achieve our goal, the Medical Center is gearing up for the next step: installation of the equipment. By planning ahead, we will be able to make these services available to our community as quickly as possible.

To this end, the Medical Center has awarded the contract for construction related to installing the combined cardiac catheterization lab and angiography suite to Swinerton Builders. This firm is also working on the installation of the computed tomographic (CT) scanner (CT Suite) on the third floor of the Koret Building at Highland Hospital.