You made 2019 amazing!
Dear Providence friends and supporters,
Because of your generous support in 2019, patients and communities throughout Oregon were able to live longer, healthier lives. You gave them the gifts of hope, health and a brighter future for themselves and their families.
This 2019 “year at-a-glance” provides just a small example of what you helped make possible. Every year when we assemble this end-of-year Making a Difference, it’s difficult to select just a few of the past year’s highlights – because you did so much to expand programs and services for our patients and communities. Our Providence Foundations team couldn’t do our work without you, and we feel eternally blessed and grateful.
Best wishes to you and your family as we enter this new year and decade. We're honored to continue working with you to support the patients and communities we serve.
Gratefully yours,
Kelly S. Buechler | Chief Philanthropy Officer, Providence Foundations of Oregon
A landmark gift for Providence Heart Institute
Providence Heart Institute made national headlines when it received a $75 million gift from Phil and Penny Knight to support continued growth and innovation in cardiac services, including the development of a heart transplant program at Providence.
The gift is one of the largest gifts ever made to a community hospital and builds on an additional $25 million given by the Knights in 2014, which was matched by other generous donors to complete the $50 million We Love That! campaign.
New leaders for Providence Foundations of Oregon
Several long-time Providence Foundations employees were named to new leadership positions in 2019, including:
- Laurie Kelley: Group vice president and chief philanthropy officer, Providence St. Joseph Health
- Kelly Buechler: Chief philanthropy officer, Providence Foundations of Oregon
- Diana Fisher: Executive director, Providence Children's Health Foundation
- Doug Cain: Executive director, Providence Newberg Health Foundation
Congratulations to these leaders for taking on their new roles!
Saying goodbye to Carolyn Winter
Carolyn Winter, who helped change thousands of lives by raising millions of dollars for Providence Foundations of Oregon, passed away in January at age 74.
Carolyn came to Providence in 1982 as director of Volunteer Services for Providence Portland Medical Center. She eventually became chief development officer for the Oregon Region, overseeing all fundraising efforts for Providence in Oregon. Although Carolyn stepped down from her executive role a few years ago, she remained as a senior advisor and was integral to Providence Foundations of Oregon.
“If you asked anyone here to picture a person of Providence, Carolyn would be one of the first people who came to mind,” said Lisa Vance, chief executive for Providence in Oregon. “Her dedication and devotion to our Mission and ministries will live on as examples for all of us.”
Honoring Elsie Franz Finley
In recognition of the late Elsie Franz Finley's decades of support, Providence Portland Medical Center named the Radiation Oncology Department in her honor: The Elsie Franz Finley Radiation Oncology Center.
In January 2020, patients will begin benefiting from the most cutting-edge radiation technology to date. The MR Linac, a gift from Elsie, uses MRI-guided radiation for pin-point accuracy to maximize tumor eradication and minimize damage to normal tissue. Providence will be the first facility in the Pacific Northwest to offer this level of care to cancer patients.
Providence is honored to have benefited from the vision and support of Elsie and her brother Robert W. Franz for more than 30 years.
Combined, Elsie and Bob gave more than $100 million to Providence, which supported a range of programs from cancer research to caring for medically fragile children to training new physicians.
See photos from the dedication ceremony, read a profile of Elsie in the Portland Business Journal, and watch a video honoring Elsie below.
Providence Cancer Institute continues groundbreaking research and patient care
Providence Cancer Institute is proud to be a global leader in immunotherapy research and treatment. You make leading-edge clinical trials possible - philanthropy funds more than 70 percent of research at Providence Cancer Institute.
Throughout 2019, your gifts led to remarkable advancements in research and patient care:
- Patients with a specific type of lymphoma may be eligible for a new clinical trial, called CAR T-cell, at Providence Cancer Institute. John Godwin, M.D., is director of the clinical trial that helped patient Bill Richardson go from having four to six weeks to live ... to having no signs of cancer.
- Three years ago, Providence Cancer Institute was one of the first international sites to open a clinical trial for patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer. The immunotherapy drug Atezolizumab is combined with a common chemotherapy drug to treat this very deadly and aggressive form breast cancer. Thanks in part to patients such as Eva Joseph, the success of this trial has led the FDA to accelerate the approval of the first immunotherapy drug for breast cancer.
- Providence Cancer Institute scientist Brian Piening, Ph.D., received national attention for his work on the NASA Twins Study published in April in Science.
- The 2019 Providence Hood to Coast Relay raised a record $900,000 for cancer research and services.
- The 21st annual Creating Hope Dinner raised more than $1 million - a new record! - for immunotherapy research that brings hope to patients and their families.
Providence Heart Institute reaches new heights
Providence Heart Institute is the top provider of cardiac care in Oregon. Your generous gifts help support new cardiac research, treatments and programs to strengthen our communities’ health.
- In April, we announced the launch of a heart transplant program and a landmark $75 million gift from Phil and Penny Knight. In November, two physicians were named to the heart transplant program.
- In May, Dr. Dan Oseran provided a close-up look at what your generosity has made possible at Providence Heart Institute in a feature in the Portland Business Journal.
- We celebrated the opening of Basecamp - Cardiac Prevention + Wellness at Providence Newberg Medical Center, Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital, and Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center. These donor-supported centers provide tools to empower heart patients and others to become their best, healthiest selves.
- Because of you, our second annual Black & White Ball was an incredible success! More than 530 supporters gathered under the stars at Providence Park and gave more than $750,000 to help fund the crucial services Providence Heart Institute will provide to future heart transplant patients and their families.
Generosity across Oregon
Your gifts made a remarkable difference for the patients and communities we serve across the state.
Providence Community Health Foundation - Southern Oregon
- Baby Middy arrived in August to much fanfare. Middy is a newborn baby simulator that will help train caregivers in the hosptal's Birthplace. Generously funded by the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund, Middy is named after the late Maybelle.
- Donor support helped caregivers at Providence Medford Medical Center receive national recognition by winning the Mission: Lifeline Gold Receiving Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association for heart and stroke quality of care and outcomes.
Providence Milwaukie Foundation
- Thanks to you, there are currently two pet therapy teams at Providence Milwaukie Hospital that serve in the Senior Psychiatric Unit. Interacting with therapy dogs helps our patients reduce their blood pressure and relieve pain and stress.
- Because of you, we were able to expand our music thanatology program, which provides peaceful, comforting music to patients, families and visitors. Your gifts provided salaries and two harps, which are used to play music in the Senior Psychiatric Unit and other areas of the hospital.
- You gave $260,000 at Partners in Health to support the Robert W. Franz and Elsie Franz Finley Endowed Chair in Family Medicine Residency at Providence Milwaukie Hospital. And thanks to everyone who joined us at our Donor Appreciation Dinner - we are so grateful for you!
Providence Willamette Falls Medical Foundation
- Your gifts to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit bring life-changing programs such as art therapy to the vulnerable children we serve. Art therapy can help children and adolescents express their feelings.
- Thanks to your generous support, in August we opened the new 3D mammography unit at Providence Canby Medical Plaza. Using 3D mammography allows for clearer and more detailed evaluation of breast tissue when compared to the older 2D digital technique. Your gifts of $143,500 at Gala at the Falls helped make this project a reality, as did all proceeds raised at Pink Night at the Canby Rodeo.
Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital Foundation
- Thanks to your generosity, the Sunshine Club is now available for seniors with Alzheimer's disease or dementia. Sunshine Club participants enjoy activities such as bingo, dance movement and pet therapy.
- The packed house at Hearts of Gold gave $65,000 to help bring Basecamp - Cardiac Prevention + Wellness to the Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital campus and to honor the accomplishments of Susan Gabay and Dr. Robert Gobbo.
- Your support of Basecamp provided eight life-saving automatic external defibrillators (AED) to the Hood River County School District.
Providence Seaside Hospital Foundation
- Thanks to generous donor support, North Coast kids and adults in need are able to receive free dental care. The Healthy Smiles partnership between Medical Teams International and Providence Seaside provided dental care to more than 200 patients in 2019.
- Because of you, patients, families and hospital staff all benefit from the Angel on a Leash Therapy Dog program. Your support provided scholarships for pets and their owners to become registered therapy dog handlers. The program began in 2017, and there now are eight active teams with 11 dogs.
- In August, donors, community members and employees got an inside look at progress on the new Emergency Department - made possible by your gifts to the successful Beyond 911 Campaign.
Providence Benedictine Nursing Center Foundation
- Thanks to the generosity of two grant-giving organizations, residents at Providence Benedictine have additional services to improve their health and well-being. The Storms Family Foundation granted the nursing center $100,000 over four years to support alternative therapies such as acupuncture, massage and music therapy. The Burlingham Trust granted $10,000 to support the Dining Experience Enhancement Project that provides personalized dining service for residents.
Providence Newberg Health Foundation
- Your gifts helped support Providence Community Connections, a ministry of Providence Newberg Medical Center, supported by the Faith in Action coalition. By building partnerships with local faith-based organizations to find volunteers, Providence can help address unmet health needs at the medical center and in the community.
- Construction of the new Providence Newberg Medical Plaza is well underway, thanks to your incredible generosity. More than $111,000 was raised at Hearts of Gold to benefit the new plaza and help us elevate care close to home, including expanding cancer support services and cardiac rehabilitation.
Providence cares for kids
More than 9,000 babies are born in a Providence hospital every year, each with their own unique health care needs. Some arrive as premature babies. Some develop chronic conditions or challenges. Some are healthy but need care and support throughout their childhood.
When children are involved, illness and injuries affect entire families. Thanks to your generosity, families have support to navigate the twists and turns in each child’s health care journey.
Your gifts to Providence Children’s Health Foundation supported programs and services that provide better health care for our youngest and most vulnerable patients.
- For children mourning the loss of a loved one, Camp Erin gives them a safe place to express their grief. Your support allows children ages 6 to 17 the opportunity to attend camp at no cost. In 2019, there were 95 campers who participated in traditional camp activities and who received grief education and support. Your gifts give grieving children a sense of hope and the understanding they are not alone.
- Winemaker Jessica Mozeico's daughter, Gabriella, was born prematurely in 2015, had several major health scares and spent a month in the neonatal intensive care unit at Providence Portland Medical Center. Today, 4-year-old Gabriella is happy and healthy. Jessica is so grateful for the care she and her daughter received at Providence that she created a special gift from her family's winery to help other NICU families.
Festival of Trees brings comfort and joy across Oregon
Our Safeway Providence Festival of Trees events in Portland, Seaside and Southern Oregon raised nearly $2.4 million to support the patients and communities we serve.
Portland
More than $1.5 million was raised to support children with special health care needs at Providence Children's Health Foundation.
This year's Festival also introduced the Festival After Dark event and Elf Academy to the public show.
See photos from all Festival events here, and watch the special appeal video below to learn more about how these gifts improve the quality of life for children and their families.
Seaside
The 2019 festival raised nearly $200,000 for Providence Seaside Foundation's Innovation Fund. The fund provides strategic investment in facilities and programs that meet the needs of the people served in the north Oregon Coast by providing top-quality, thoughtful patient care.
See photos from all Seaside Festival events here, and watch the video below to see how your gifts helped the Emergency Department renovation.
Southern Oregon
A new record was set as more than $700,000 was raised to support community health needs, charity care, and hospital programs and services in Southern Oregon.
See photos from all Festival events here, and watch the video below to see how your gifts help support critically important palliative care for patients.
Generous partners
Thank you to the corporatations partners that support our patients and communities. Below are just a few stories from the hundreds of businesses across the state that support the work we do.
- Every spring Safeway and Albertsons stores around Oregon raise money for research at Providence Cancer Institute. Each May they invite customers to donate at checkout. As a result of this year's campaign, the Safeway Foundation contributed $425,906 to Providence Cancer Institute. Safeway Foundation is also the title sponsor of our Festival of Trees events across the state.
- Providence's most fragile patients received a $98,899 donation from Carr Subaru Beaverton and Subaru of America's annual "Share the Love" event - for a total of more than $500,000 since 2015.
- The Go Beat Cancer Golf Tournament raised more than $144,000. Click here for a photo gallery from the event.
- Human Bean once again partnered with Providence Foundations across the state during its annual "Coffee for a Cure" event. Since 2008, Human Bean raised nearly $250,000 for cancer research and treatment at Providence.
- The annual Columbia Edgewater Country Club Cancer Fundraising Tournament raised $80,000 - with this impressive ladies' tournament raising a total of $1 million in 21 years for Providence Cancer Institute.
- For more than two decades, Kells’ patrons have participated in the annual tradition of throwing cash up to the pub's ceiling. With a little bit of luck, the donated bills and coins stick to the ceiling until the annual green rain ceiling sweep event. This year, $4,769 of this "green rain" was collected, which was matched by Kells owners, Gerard and Lucille McAleese. Carr Subaru then doubled the 2019 Kells green rain donations and the McAleese match with a portion of its Subaru Share the Love proceeds. The $19,077 contribution will go to the Kells for Kids Fund at Providence Child Center. The event has raised more than $310,000 since 1995.
Your support gave hope
Thank you so much for your ongoing support of Providence Foundations of Oregon.
Your gifts truly make a difference for our patients and the communities we serve. Here are three stories from patients about how your generosity gives hope.
At Providence Center for Medically Fragile children, Kobi receives respite care that provides his family with time to recharge their batteries or tend to other areas of their life. Powered by philanthropy, respite care and other resources allow families like Kobi’s to take a needed break knowing their child is receiving loving care.
Anthony had a healthy lifestyle but at age 48 he had quadruple bypass surgery. Today he is back to doing all the activities he loves. He is so grateful for the care he received, he gives back to Providence by helping other heart patients at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. Philanthropy powers research at Providence Heart Institute and gives Anthony access to world-class, life-saving care.
Joanne came to Providence for treatment when she learned her kidney cancer had spread. The leading-edge treatment she received was difficult but it saved her life. Research powered by philanthropy is uncovering new treatments for Joanne’s cancer, giving her hope and more time with her grandchildren.