Sutter Roseville Medical Center Foundation Celebrates 25 Years!

ROSEVILLE, Calif., June 3, 2009 - The Sutter Roseville Medical Center Foundation, the charitable arm of the hospital, is celebrating 25 years of providing supplemental funding to help support health and wellness programs and services and most recently, construction at Sutter Roseville Medical Center.

The Foundation does not directly operate health service programs, but instead serves as the conduit for gathering needed financial support for programs and capital projects at the medical center. Twenty five years ago the Foundation’s first fund raising effort consisted of a raffle to obtain funds in order to purchase two heart monitors and new gurneys for the Emergency Department, recalls Bob Kuhl, one of the original Foundation Board Members.

"We put together a raffle for a variety of items and we raised enough money to make the purchases," said Kuhl. "That was very exciting for us back then."

Several months later, after the equipment and gurneys had been purchased, Kuhl found himself in the Emergency Department with chest pains. Hooked up to a new heart monitor and laying on a new gurney, Kuhl couldn’t help but think that the recent fund raising he had been involved in had been a pretty good use of his time and money. "I realized our work is directly related to our own patient care."

More recently philanthropy funds were instrumental in constructing the new Patient Care Tower, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Sutter Rehabilitation Institute. In addition, the Foundation purchased numerous pieces of equipment and supported a variety of therapies such as the ante partum Testing Unit, Positron Emission Tomography, a 12-lead EKG and laparoscopic technology.

"The Foundation’s fund raising efforts have been and continue to be a tremendous asset to the medical center," said Patrick R. Brady, CEO, Sutter Roseville Medical Center. "Without the support of our Foundation, those projects would have been difficult to bring on line."

Since 1984 the Sutter Roseville Medical Foundation raised more than $25 million through generous donors and organizations that are committed to sustain the growing health care needs of area residents. Guided by a group of dedicated community leaders, who serve without compensation, the Foundation has given back more than $17 million to enhance patient care, provide community education and implement preventive health programs in the South Placer region.

"The Foundation’s role is to supplement funding to pursue new and existing programs that are not paid for by insurance and ensure that these programs continue to benefit our patients and the community," said Foundation Executive Director Patricia Marquez. "We want to make sure that our patients get the best care available at our medical center."

Spanning the years, the Foundation’s roots go back to the original Roseville Community Hospital and the Roseville Community Health Foundation. When community backing provided the funds to build Roseville Community Hospital in 1952, its support activated a five-decades-long tradition of health care philanthropy. That philanthropy was enhanced in 1984, a year after the hospital became a not-for-profit with Sutter Health, when the Roseville Community Health Foundation was formally established in order to raise funds for community health care needs.

The Roseville Community Health Foundation partnered with Sutter Health during the 1990s and launched a capital campaign to raise funds for a new hospital. The Foundation raised more than $1.8 million from the generosity of the community to help build Sutter Roseville Medical Center.

As Sutter Roseville Medical Center established its regional presence within the growing South Placer communities, the Roseville Community Health Foundation officially aligned with the medical center, becoming the Sutter Roseville Medical Center Foundation. The newly transformed Foundation continued as an active supporter to provide charitable support for the medical center’s capital and program needs throughout Sutter Roseville’s service area.

Many patients have benefited from this support. Philanthropy funds helped:

• Expand the Emergency Department with more treatment areas and larger trauma resuscitation rooms
• Enlarge the Trauma Neuro Intensive Care unit with a new wing and more beds for trauma patients
• Open a second caesarean section operating room to accommodate multiple c-section births.

"We have accomplished this much with the support of our community who understand the importance of providing state-of-the-art healthcare to a growing region," said Marquez.

The Foundation’s future goals include 2009 Funding Priorities, comprised of:

• Cardiology Equipment Purchases - $398,000
• Family Birth Center Fetal Monitors - $79,000
• Neurodiagnostic Services EEG Unit - $273,000
• Sutter Rehabilitation Institute Wheelchair-adapted Van - $56,000
• Improved Patient Access; Six-passenger Cart and several Scooters - $15,000

Kuhl says that in addition to raising funds for health care, the Foundation’s role in obtaining the community’s involvement and investment into this medical center is vital. "Every time someone donates a monetary gift to the Foundation it stays in Roseville and ensures that this medical center can provide world class care. That in turn benefits the community—and those of us who will ultimately enter this facility needing hospital services one day. We will all benefit from making this facility even more state-of-the-art than we ever thought it would be back 25 years ago!"