“There wasn’t too much of a break,” hospital foundation President David Burghart said. “[The projects] take a lot of attention.”
They also take a lot of money, which has put the foundation into overdrive as it works to maintain a stream of donor income for an expensive construction schedule.
The $2.5 million campaign will fund renovations to patient rooms, hallways and flooring in the so-called East Tower, as well as the purchase of a new CT scanner, Burghart said. Commitments from donors and hospital employees to the campaign have already reached $836,000, he said.
The campaign is expected to reach its goal by 2010, at about the same time donors have fulfilled all of their commitments to the recent $10-million campaign.
Hospital officials are cognizant of possible donor fatigue as they start up a new campaign just as a large three-year fundraising drive comes to a close.
“That is a challenge. That’s why we’re doing a smaller campaign now,” Burghart said.
All major hospitals tap their foundations to continually offset capital costs through year-round fundraising drives, but major projects often push those foundations harder, hospital officials said.
Since the West Tower was completed, acute admissions to Glendale Adventist from January to April were up 700 over the same period last year, for a total 5,500 patients, said Warren Tetz, the hospital’s chief operations officer.
About half of the tower’s additional 60 beds were filled during the hospital’s busiest period from November to April, he said.
The East Tower is on track to be demolished in September.
Its replacement will be integrated into the new facility and provide enough space for an additional 50 beds as demand grows, he said.
“It will all look like one building,” Tetz said.
For a campus that has been built up over time on a steep, hilly parcel, the new infrastructure and building should cut down on the visitor confusion and inner-campus travel times, he said.
“Operationally, it will make things a lot easier,” Tetz said.
The demolition and reconstruction of the East Tower into the new facility is expected to cost $53 million, minus the cost of building out most of the interior.
The project will no doubt call for yet another major fundraising drive on the part of the Healthcare Foundation, hospital officials said.
“The need is tremendous,” said Larry Zarian, who has served on the hospital’s Governing Board for 30 years.
