Palm Beach Event Celebrates Donors
For more than a decade, Palm Beach, Fla., has been the stage for announcing gifts that promise to transform care at BWH. This year was no different, as hospital benefactors and friends gathered at the 11th annual fund-raising events in January.
BWH President Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA, kicked off the affair with a special announcement: Christopher and Karen Watkins donated $15 million to help fund construction of BWH’s Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, slated to open in 2008. It was in Palm Beach two years ago where the Shapiros revealed their $25 million gift to the center that will be named in their honor.
“Great acts of philanthropy like these enable our vibrant community of physicians, researchers, nurses, medical students and health professionals to achieve great things,” Gottlieb told the generous donors gathered at the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. “We could not do it without you.”
This year, the Shapiros made a new gift of $6 million to renovate BWH’s Emergency Department, and benefactors Robert and Sybil Sheinkopf contributed $1 million to support the clinical, administrative and educational mission of a new individualized patient care model.
The event, chaired by Elaine and Gerald Schuster, included several video segments showcasing BWH’s four McArthur Fellows, Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, Jim Yong Kim, MD, PhD, and Nawal Nour, MD, MPH; the latest imaging technology; advancements in patient safety; therapies for cancer under study in the lab; and the future of Alzheimer’s disease treatment. ESPN columnist Peter Gammons, who is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as a journalist, concluded the event with his personal story about the emergency treatment he received at BWH last year for a brain aneurysm.
Gammons also joined several physicians in a men’s health panel discussion, hosted by Judie and Larry Schlager. During the annual Women’s Health Luncheon, chaired by the Watkins, attendees learned about cardiovascular disease and the importance of a healthy lifestyle.