Physicians’ nonprofit to disband

GLENDALE — The city’s three hospitals stand to gain $36,000 each from a citywide physician support foundation that is expected to announce its dissolution today after years in the twilight of service, members said.

The Glendale Medical Doctors Foundation — formed as a nonprofit in the 1940s to assist member physicians who fall on hard times using collective membership dues — will officially disband today after more than a year of moving through the strict guidelines that govern ending not-for-profit organizations, said William Shubert, a Glendale doctor on the foundation’s board.

“There really hasn’t been a need,” he said.

With declining membership and little outside interest to keep the foundation going, board members decided last year to begin preparing the group for disbandment, he said.

“It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing, not by a long shot,” he said.

The foundation’s board decided to split the group’s remaining funds among the city’s three hospitals — Verdugo Hills, Glendale Memorial and Glendale Adventist Medical Center — because they are represented among remaining members, said board member Carlton Valvo, a urologist.

“We thought it was an appropriate time to wind things down and give back,” he said.

The gift to each of the hospitals’ own foundations will be welcomed as much-needed cash infusions for various endowment and capital improvement projects, administrators at each of the hospitals said.

So even in the foundation’s death, life-giving money goes toward creating a lasting legacy, said Margaret Kean, president of the Verdugo Hills Hospital Foundation.

“I learned of it almost two weeks ago, and I was just thrilled,” she said.

The funds will go toward a $150,000 capital improvement endowment that, if fulfilled, will see a $100,000 match from the hospital’s medical staff, she said. The residuals of the endowment would be made available for physicians to purchase new equipment in the future, she added.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center plans to apply the funds to some of the costs for the hospital’s new building, said David Burghart, president of the foundation there.

“The gift will do a lot of good for a lot of people for a lot of years,” he said.

The dissolution of the Glendale Medical Doctors Foundation won’t leave physicians completely exposed, Shubert said, pointing to a similar county foundation that local doctors can join.

The announcement and presentation of the money to the three foundations is scheduled to take place at 12:30 p.m. today at Verdugo Hills Hospital.