Providence Announces $5 Million Donation Toward New Santa Rosa Cardiology Center
Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Foundation has announced a multimillion-dollar donation to help establish a new cardiac hub within the Hansel Family Care Center, a medical office building across the street from the hospital.
Norma Person, a longtime donor with her late husband, Evert Person, has gifted $5 million to the foundation to help build the Dr. John B. Reed Center for Cardiology, according to Rebecca Kendall, chief philanthropy officer of the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Foundation.
The future Reed Center is an extension of the Norma and Evert Person Heart and Vascular Institute, which is inside Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
"Dr. Reed is the reason why Santa Rosa has a heart institute equal to those found in much larger cities. I’m glad we can support the next generation of cardiologists who will carry on his vision,” Norma Person said in the Aug. 1 announcement. “My late husband Evert would be just as happy as I am to recognize this special man who has healed so many people.” Evert Person was a former publisher and owner of The Press Democrat. He died in 2011.
“The (center) will be home to the providers currently located at 500 Doyle Park Drive, and will also allow us to expand that team by six additional providers,” Kendall said.
The space for the Reed Center has been shelled but the facility is still in the planning stages, Kendall said. It is estimated to be completed in 2027.
“(The Reed center) is a key element of a larger effort called the Caring Together Initiative, which aims to create a new center for cardiology, a new imaging center and a new women's health center,” Kendall said.
The total cost to develop these centers is estimated at $40 million to $45 million, including $25 million in philanthropic funding.
Reed said he is “humbled and proud” to have the center named for him.
"This center, and indeed Memorial's whole cardiology program, exists because people like Evert and Norma Person believe in our mission,” Reed said in the announcement.
The $5 million gift toward the new cardiac center brings the Persons’ lifetime total of giving to Santa Memorial Hospital to $20 million, Kendall said.
In addition to cardiology, the Persons’ donations have helped fund a device that delivers radiation therapy to cancer patients; advanced surgical equipment for neurosurgeons; support of the hospital’s mobile health clinics; and the 2014 expansion of the emergency department, according to Kendall.