Foundation tops $1 million: Goal is to raise $3 million for new medical center

Talk about it

The Jamestown Hospital Foundation has raised its first million dollars in less than a year, and foundation director Jan Barnes is optimistic another $2 million will flow into the coffers to support the new regional medical center.

Jamestown Hospital CEO Marty Richman agrees.

“Based on the feedback that I’m getting, I do believe we will achieve our goal of $3 million,” Richman said.

The price tag for construction of the Jamestown Regional Medical Center is estimated at $52 million and $46 million of that is through a USDA loan. Barnes said the foundation has been tasked with raising $3 million for the new facility, along with help raising another $1 million toward state-of-the-art equipment.

“I don’t have any concern about raising $2 million,” she said. “This is a close-knit community that has always helped in the past with equipment or other needs. I feel our community realizes how important your health is and how important having a good hospital if you need it is.”

The fundraising began last spring with pledges totaling $175,000 from hospital employees in the Hour Club. Barnes said the Hour Club has been an employee-based fundraiser for the hospital for the last 14 years. Employees can pledge an hour or more of pay or vacation time as a donation or a set amount each month. The $175,000 is pledged over a five-year period.

The Jamestown Hospital Auxiliary stepped up to the plate with a $70,000 pledge.

“With this pledge the auxiliary hit a quarter of a million dollars for the Wall of Honor,” she said. The Wall of Honor recognizes contributors to Jamestown Hospital on the main floor wall. The auxiliary is at the top of that list for its year-round fundraising activity.

Finally, Barnes went to the foundation board and Jamestown Hospital Board of Trustees. She said Duane Enzminger started the contributions with a $100,000 pledge.

“Together the two boards pledged $294,000,” she said.

In all the family phase, which focused on the hospital family of employees, boards and employees, raised $538,000.

“While working on the family portion, I also visited with loyal donors who were really excited to help and put their name on part of the new facility,” Barnes said. “I also had a couple of people call me with memorials. They wanted to name something in memory of a loved one. Between all of them we reached $1 million.”

Richman said he’s pleased with the foundation’s fundraising success. He sees this as an example of the community’s support.

“This first million acknowledges the need for a new hospital that will allow our very special employees and doctors to better serve the community,” Richman said. “We are grateful for the privilege to care for our neighbors.”

The second step in the fundraising campaign is the community phase. But Barnes said it will be a low key campaign. The importance of the new facility in Jamestown’s future is obvious, she said, and many people are eager to support the fundraising effort.

“We’ve got people out of state who are helping out. They once lived here and want to see us have a good community hospital,” she said. “We don’t need any big hoopla in this campaign. This is a big thing for Jamestown and a lot of people see that.”

Barnes is just starting the community phase and it includes all the towns in the region. When it comes to the new medical center, she said, the community is the region as everyone will benefit from it.

Barnes keeps about 9,000 members of the larger community informed on donations and the new facility through a newsletter called “Apple Slices” It comes out in those months the “Appleseeds” newsletter doesn’t. Apple Slices is the major part of the community campaign.

“That’s telling people who are donating and why,” she said.

There are any number of naming opportunities starting with a paver for $1,000 to naming one of the 25 patient rooms for $10,000. A gift of $100,000 names a department, $250,000 names the healing garden outside and $400,000 names the atrium inside the hospital.

“And with a $5 million donation you can name the whole hospital,” she said. “Everyone isn’t going to be able to name something and that’s OK. All the small gifts help us too. They helped get us to the first million. And everyone knows how important this is. We’re all like one big family in this region.”

The Jamestown Regional Medical Center is expected to open its doors in the fall of 2011.

Sun reporter Toni Pirkl can be reached at (701) 952-8453 or by e-mail at tonip@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, in the area, medical center, community, news, jamestown, hospital, foundation, funds