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GROWING FORWARD CAMPAIGN
COMMUNITY DONATES $40.3 MILLION TO MEDICAL CENTER EXPANSION, RENOVATION
The Foundation for Morristown Medical Center is pleased to announce that community members contributed $40.3 million toward the critical renovation and expansion of Carol G. Simon Cancer Center, Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute and Goryeb Children’s Hospital, significantly exceeding the initial campaign goal of $38.5 million. More than 1,500 donors, including the Gagnon, Goryeb and Simon families, supported the Growing Forward Campaign that launched on Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2019. The impact of these projects has, in some ways, been unexpected. Projects were initially identified to not only enhance the capacity of these Centers of Excellence but also to create patient-centric units where caregivers could provide the extraordinary care our community has come to rely upon. In the end, these projects became as critical to our COVID-19 patients and their families, not to mention those on the frontline, as they are to our heart, cancer and pediatric patients and their families.
For more information on donor impact and details about the expansion, visit:
f4mmc.org/forward
HANSON GIFT MEMORIALIZES COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER
While accompanying his wife, Karen Hanson, to treatments at the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center, what stood out to Jon Hanson was the dedication he saw in every nurse, physician and caregiver.
“You can do a job, or you can do a job with a smile,” Hanson, chairman and founder of The Hampshire Real Estate Companies and The Hampshire Foundation, Inc., said. “It’s the positive attitude that I saw all around me. Everyone entered the room with a smile on their face or an encouraging word for us. It was quite remarkable to witness,” the long-time Bernardsville, New Jersey resident and 2018 NJ Hall of Fame inductee, added. Their experience led the Hansons to donate generously to the renovation and expansion of the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center, a part of the Growing Forward Campaign. Their gift named the Karen H. Hanson Waiting Room at the new 36-chair Infusion Center which opened in January 2020, an area where Karen Hanson spent a lot of time waiting for treatments. The 81-year-old battled Stage IV lung cancer and developed malignant brain tumors on three different occasions, over a seven-year period. After his wife’s passing, Jon Hanson saw the waiting room naming as an apt legacy for someone who had given so much of her time and talent to the community. Karen Hanson volunteered extensively in food pantries and homeless shelters and, in 1992, founded the Paige Whitney Babies Center, named after the Hanson’s granddaughter who died at two months of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. As a patient at Morristown Medical Center, Karen Hanson relied on the power of prayer right alongside her medical treatments. Her positive experience with the hospital made a lasting impression. In her last days, she requested donations be made to the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center.
To learn more about supporting Carol G. Simon Cancer Center, contact Lisa Duff
973-593-2405 f4mmc@atlantichealth.org
A MANSION, A MISSION AND A MIRACLE
Raising $1 million for the Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute expansion in less than one month, in the middle of a pandemic, through a large-scale event, is nothing short of a miracle, but the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center (WAMMC) did just that. Their signature event, the 19th Annual Mansion in May Designer Showhouse and Gardens, was delayed because of COVID-19 and later opened as Splendor in September. With guidance from state health officials and Atlantic Health System care teams, the event safely hosted more than 8,000 visitors at Tyvan Hill, located in New Vernon, New Jersey, between September 8 and October 4, 2020. Local design firms were invited to decorate nearly 50 interior and landscaped spaces around the FrenchNormandy style, 10,000-square-foot country estate, which was built between 1928 and 1929 for John Wesley Castles Jr. and his wife, Dorothea Bradford Smith. Despite the draw of this unique estate’s beauty and charm, event co-chairs and WAMMC members Pat O’Connor and Kathy Ross had only 223 volunteers on hand compared to the usual 1,000. With social distancing rules in place, fewer visitors were allowed into the mansion at the same time. Unseasonably warm weather, however, brought many locals to the property looking for a change of pace after months of staying at home, and WAMMC volunteers were determined to raise money for the Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute expansion, a part of the Growing Forward Campaign. “One visitor told me this was the first time she had been
happy since March,” O’Connor said. “People loved their time touring the home. Many visitors said it was so nice to have something fun to get dressed up for. They were all very appreciative of the event.” Both O’Connor and Ross were thrilled that their hard work paid off and it will benefit Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute. “We believe our efforts will make a difference for so many. We are proud that we saw it through," Ross said. For a video tour, visit: mansioninmay.org/video-tour
Photo Credit: Wing Wong
WELDON MATERIALS INVESTS IN CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE, COVID RESPONSE
Weldon Materials, Inc., a fifth-generation New Jersey-based family business has made philanthropy a priority. For more than 20 years, the company has been a generous and consistent supporter of Morristown Medical Center, donating to new initiatives, campaigns and advancements at its Centers of Excellence. “We feel as a company, where much is given, much is expected,” Woody Weldon, vice-president of Weldon Materials, said. “We want to support the availability of the best health care in our community for our employees and our neighbors, and, as community leaders, we think it is our responsibility to do so.” Weldon Materials recently gave to the expansion of Goryeb Children's Hospital as a part of the Growing Forward Campaign. Operating at close to 100 percent capacity, Goryeb Children’s Hospital underwent an essential three-phase expansion and renovation. The project began with specialty outpatient services moving across the street to 55 Madison Avenue. Patients now have access to a larger, modernized unit with the added benefit of free parking. Phase two of the expansion added much-needed rooms to both critical and non-critical care. The Joan and Edward Foley Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) added six additional private rooms, bringing the total number to 15. The Ryan Pediatric Inpatient South Unit added eight private rooms and, combined with the 26-bed Vanech Family Pediatric Inpatient Unit bringing non-critical, inpatient care to 34 beds. The third and final phase enabled the Valerie Fund Children’s Center, which had seen a 28 percent increase in patient volume, to relocate to a larger space on the third floor, ensuring that all hematology and pediatric oncology patients are able to receive the critical care they need in a more patient-centered and healing environment. On the heels of this generous gift, COVID-19 hit, and Weldon Materials again was quick to make a gift to support front-line caregivers and critical-care patients. Then came a gift for the Chanin T. Mast Center for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). Weldon’s leadership team felt an emotional tug to contribute to this program — the only one of its kind in New Jersey — as one of their employees is a grateful patient of cardiologist John Edward Cosmi, MD. “We have so many reasons to remain committed to the hospital,” Weldon said. “I’m sure the relationship will continue for generations to come.”
To learn more about supporting Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute, contact Susan Johns
973-593-2413 f4mmc@atlantichealth.org
Watch the recent Inside Update: Excellence in Heart Care event featuring our physician leaders in HCM:
f4mmc.org/inside-update-heart-care
RYAN FAMILY DONATES $1 MILLION TO GORYEB CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL EXPANSION, BD DIABETES CENTER
W. Rodman Ryan, CEO of Open Road Auto Group, is as passionate about selling cars as he is about his commitment to the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center. A trustee since 2018, Ryan, along with his wife Dianne Ryan, recently gave $1 million, splitting their gift to support both the renovation and expansion of Goryeb Children’s Hospital, a project that was part of the Growing Forward Campaign, and the BD Diabetes Center for Children and Adolescents, also located at Goryeb Children’s Hospital. freshman at the Morristown-Beard School, in Morristown, New Jersey. “My grandson is a dynamic kid and doing great,” Rod Ryan said. “There is no cure [for Type 1 diabetes] so the more inroads we can make through investing in programs, the better quality of life people living with diabetes can have.” In the last few years, the Ryans have given multiple gifts to Morristown Medical Center, including contributions to the COVID-19 Support Fund in the spring of 2020. They sponsored the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center’s 19th Mansion in May Designer Showhouse and Gardens, which was delayed due to COVID-19 and opened as the Splendor in September in the fall of 2020. For the past two years, Rod Ryan has rallied various auto groups to name Goryeb Children’s Hospital as the beneficiary of funds raised during the Subaru ‘Share the Love’ campaign. Then he matched their collective donations for a total of $100,000. Influencing his family members to do the same, Rod Ryan’s daughter, Jaimie Morais, and son-in-law Michael Morais, president of Open Road Auto Group, recently gave $25,000 on behalf of the care Laura Morais, Michael Morais’ mother, received at the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center. “Laura was treated so well and was so impressed with her care that my daughter and son-in-law wanted to show their appreciation,” Ryan said. Rod Ryan’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Wayne and Joan Vince, also donated to Morristown Medical Center after having two grandchildren born at the hospital in 2020. “Our family feels strongly that the hospital is a piece of our community and an important piece of our life. Dianne and I are just getting started with our support and we hope to get our children and grandchildren more involved in the years to come," Rod Ryan said.
The Growing Forward Campaign gift supported the establishment of the Ryan Family Pediatric Inpatient South Unit, creating eight additional private rooms for inpatient pediatric care. Combined with the 26-bed Vanech Family Pediatric Inpatient Unit, space for non-critical inpatient care increased to 34 beds, expanding at a time when patient volume continues to rise. The gift toward the BD Diabetes Center for Children and Adolescents funded the production of educational videos to teach patients and families how to live fully with Type 1 diabetes. The gift was motivated by the care the Ryan’s grandson, Jack Morais, received for Type 1 diabetes from Harold Starkman, MD, former director of the BD Diabetes Center. The Ryans, residents of Far Hills, appreciate having this extraordinary care for their grandson so close to home. Morais is thriving because of it, playing quarterback as a
