As we conclude another year at Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS) Foundation, it is appropriate to take a look back on some of the accomplishments made possible by the generosity of our community. It is also a wonderful time to look ahead at the year before us, and all that we have left to accomplish.
From January 1, 2006, to March 31, 2013, our Foundation conducted the most ambitious capital campaign of any hospital our size in the United States. The fundraising dollars we received have had a direct impact on the building of the new University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro (UMCPP), and as a result, will have a tremendous impact on the health of the people we serve. Throughout UMCPP, there are signs that speak to the culture of philanthropy that for more than 90 years has played a significant role in our hospital. I cannot thank the physicians, staff, and volunteers enough for their hard work, but mostly I would like to thank the more than 11,000 donors who collectively contributed more than $171 million to the Design for Healing campaign. Your gifts to PHCS Foundation were an investment in our community’s health.
Last summer (2012), the PHCS Foundation Board of Directors conducted a strategic planning process to consider how we will work with our physicians and community on generating financial resources in the future. The result is a new model of fundraising for PHCS, aligned with the services we offer at UMCPP and throughout the healthcare system (learn more). Some of this work has already begun. Thanks to the very generous gift from Jim Craigie, CEO of Church & Dwight, we were able to move up our time frame for opening a center for joint replacement. The new Jim Craigie Center for Joint Replacement opened on November 3 (learn more). The center, and the philanthropy that supported its birth, is an example of the potential growth we hope to see in the near future.In the coming months, we will be working with volunteers, physicians, and clinical staff to form advisory groups that will focus on surgical care, cancer care, geriatric care, emergency medicine, women’s health, pediatrics, community health/clinic, and art for healing. Your philanthropic support can be directed to any one of these areas, or to our Annual Fund, where dollars are channeled to our areas of greatest need.
Philanthropy remains critical to our future success. Your gifts, big and small, allow the Foundation to invest in our hospital and health system. Through your generosity, we are able to purchase new equipment, provide enhanced services, train staff on the latest techniques, and care for our uninsured and underinsured neighbors. Thank you for your continued generosity in supporting PHCS through your donations to PHCS Foundation.
Barry S. Rabner
President and CEO, PHCS
President, PHCS Foundation