Published: September 18, 2008 09:44 pm         

$1.4M donation puts Union Hospital past halfway point

Fundraising drive to help capital campaign

TERRE HAUTE — Jane Kosofsky has worked at Union Hospital for 28 years, and many of her family members have received quality medical care there, including end-of-life care.

On Thursday, Kosofsky announced a $1.4 million gift from the estate of her parents, Allen and Millie Felstein, toward an $8 million capital campaign to benefit the hospital’s expansion/renovation project now under way.

The hospital and its foundation launched the community phase of the “Distinctive Past, Exceptional Future” campaign at the Landsbaum Center for Medical Education.

“We have just always supported Union,” said Kosofsky, a nurse in Union’s surgery department. “Union has been good to us, and Terre Haute has been good to us.”

The family decided it was “time for some payback,” she said. The donation will be dedicated toward the new surgery department.

The $185 million hospital project includes construction of a four-story, 500,000-square-foot new facility as well as renovation of about 104,000 square feet of the existing hospital. All patient rooms will be private once it is completed.

The project is the largest construction effort in the hospital’s 116-year history.

The projects covered by the $8 million capital campaign “will provide value-added elements to what we’re trying to accomplish,” said David Doerr, president and CEO of Union Hospital Health Group.

Those added features include a helicopter landing pad on top of the new hospital and elevated pedestrian walkways connecting several buildings.

It also would help complete certain aspects of the hospital construction project not covered by current financing.

Funds from the capital campaign will be used for renovation of the current hospital (Union West) and to complete a number of shell spaces in the new building, said Jim Bertoli, executive director of the Union Hospital Foundation.

So far, the fundraising campaign has generated $4.25 million — more than half the goal. That includes more than $2.7 million from the internal “family” campaign, which is ongoing, as well as five early community gifts totaling more than $1.5 million — including the gift from the Felstein estate.

The family campaign includes gifts or pledges from employees, medical staff, the service league, members of hospital boards and other groups. Union employees have donated nearly $1.2 million through 878 gifts.

Bertoli said the hospital is excited to launch the community phase of the capital campaign, which will enlist the support of individuals and businesses.

“We’ve had many individuals contact the foundation office, saying, ‘We see the building going up and it looks spectacular. How can I get involved?’” Bertoli said. “I think we’ll get tremendous response.”

It’s an opportunity for the general public to invest in the future of health care in the Wabash Valley, he said.

Those interested in donating can call Bertoli at the foundation office at (812) 238-7534.

Most of the funding for the hospital expansion/renovation project is being financed through the sale of $176.5 million in bonds. Another $1.5 million is being funded through other hospital sources.

Once the project is completed, there is no reason Union Hospital can’t be one of the best in the country for its size and what it does, Doerr said.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.