The board of directors of Palm Healthcare Foundation has approved a $1 million grant to support the capital campaign for the new regional hospital in the Glades, Palm Beach Countys only public hospital. The grant was awarded to Glades Healthcare Foundation who is leading the fund raising campaign for the $73 million project.
(l-r) John Lacy, Treasurer of Palm Healthcare Board of Trustees and Vice-Chairman Glades Healthcare Foundation; David Zechman, CEO of Glades General Hospital; Pat Lord, Executive Director of Glades Healthcare Foundation; Suzette Wexner, President of Palm Healthcare Foundation; David Goodlett, Chair of the Glades Healthcare Foundation Board; and Bob Jaffe, Chair of the Palm Healthcare Foundation Board of Trustees.
“We believe this is one of most important capital campaign projects in Palm Beach County today,” said Bob Jaffe, Palm Healthcare Foundation board chair. “As we have focused on increasing healthcare access for the underserved across Palm Beach County, we recognized that there is no area in our community that is more greatly in need than the Glades region where one-third of residents are living below the Federal Poverty Level. Weve awarded this grant to help transform healthcare for over 50,000 people served by the hospital because we believe a healthy communityfrom east to westbenefits us all.”
The grant will be used to support the capital costs for the Palm Healthcare Center for Better Nutrition. This state-of-the-art center will allow the hospital to provide high nutritional value meals to aid patients in their recovery. The center will also serve as a community destination for healthy eating and nutrition educationa critical need in the Glades region where the population experiences high rates of diabetes and cardiopulmonary disorders.
Construction of the new 70-bed, technologically-advanced hospital to replace Glades General began in November 2007 and is well underway with an anticipated opening in early 2010.
