A Gift from the Heart
Donor’s Gift Buys Life-Saving Equipment for the Cardiac and Vascular Institute
What is The Memorial Foundation?
The Memorial Foundation was established in 1981 to provide philanthropic support that supplements the income from payors and tax revenues received by the Memorial Healthcare System. The Foundation helps ensure the ongoing availability of the highest quality of healthcare services to everyone who needs them.
The Foundation is a non-profit public foundation dedicated to supporting healthcare provided to adult members of the community served by the Memorial Healthcare System. The Foundation serves as the central agency through which charitable contributions are made. A volunteer board of directors, comprised of prominent business and community leaders, oversees all aspects of the Foundation's operation.
The Foundation offers a broad range of gift opportunities for donors who wish to designate their gifts toward a special project or fund. When no specific preference exists, unrestricted gifts are helpful because they can be directed to needs for which there are inadequate funds.
January 2007 — Thanks to a $1 million donation to Memorial Foundation, Memorial Regional Hospital Cardiac and Vascular Institute has acquired an Innova 3100 digital cardiovascular imaging system. While the generous donor chooses to remain anonymous, Gary Birken, MD, Chairman of the Memorial Foundation and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundation, says the gift came from a member of our community who wants to help assure that all South Floridians continue receiving the advanced, high-quality care.
Advanced Equipment
The new Innova 3100 will help accomplish that goal by providing the ability to more accurately pinpoint coronary artery disease before patients experience chest pain, shortness of breath or heart problems. The digital flat-panel X-ray system has a special camera and provides detailed images of the heart and blood vessels, allowing doctors to maneuver with greater certainty and precision when treating blockages that once would have resulted in open heart surgery. Using crisp, clear real-time images, interventional cardiologists can closely monitor progress while guiding catheters through a patient’s leg artery to the blockage site.
In the past, if the carotid artery was blocked, a carotid endarectomy was performed. This was risky, because it required invasive surgery. “Now, we’re able to use the advanced, new equipment to perform minimally invasive procedures such as inserting a stent into the carotid artery and open it up,” says Michele Slane, Administrative Director of Cardiac and Vascular Surgery. “As a result, a patient is in and out of the hospital within 24 hours.” Because the new system can view peripheral arteries, it also can be used to open arteries that supply blood to the brain, kidneys or limbs.
Higher Levels of Care
Dr. Birken says the donation that helped purchase this equipment is one of many contributions received by the Foundations, which raised nearly $14.5 million in the last fiscal year. Such donations help Memorial Healthcare System facilities achieve a higher level of care than would be possible through public funding alone. Donors may specify how they would like their donation used.
“Gifts such as this one to the Cardiac and Vascular Institute are often made by caring people who’ve seen similar diseases themselves and who are genuinely concerned about the health of their fellow community members,” Birken says. “All of us can make an enormous difference in people’s lives. I encourage you to donate today.”
For more information about the Memorial Foundation and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Foundation, please call (954) 985-3454.
If you would like a referral to a physician, please call Memorial Physician Referral Service toll-free at (800) 944-DOCS. We’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.