$1 Million More for Saint John's

By Lookout Staff

Just weeks after Saint John's Health Center passed the halfway mark in its fundraising drive, hospital officials announced Wednesday that Linda and Abbott Brown and their Ridgestone Foundation have donated $1 million to help fund the construction of the new facility.

Now under construction, the state-of-the-art $315 million health center will replace the existing facilities in carefully sequenced stages that will ensure uninterrupted access to the full range of outpatient and acute-care services, hospital officials said.

Abbott Brown, the CEO of Ridgestone Corporation and a founder of Santa Monica-based Global Crossing, Inc., has served on the Saint John's Board of Trustees since May 1999.

"We truly value Mr. and Mrs. Brown's generous support," said Bruce Lamoureux, chief executive officer at Saint John's Health Center. "Their contribution impacts the entire community because we will be able to have one of the best health care facilities in the country, with the construction of the new Saint John's."

So far, the hospital's foundation has raised half of its $125 million goal to build the new facility, officials announced earlier this month.

The project is funded in part by a $140 million reimbursement for earthquake damage from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and philanthropy, including grants totaling $30 million from the W.M. Keck Foundation.

Private foundations, individuals and corporations also have contributed to the fundraising effort.

Planning for the new Saint John's began in the weeks and months following the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake, which badly damaged buildings - some of them dating back a half century -- and interrupted services at the hospital for nine months. Saint John's assembled a team of leading experts from across the country to develop a plan that would propel the Health Center into the 21st Century.

The result of their efforts, officials of the non-profit hospital said, is a unique and innovative health campus designed to meet the healthcare challenges of the community for decades to come.

Officials said the new campus will offer exceptional service, innovative design, advanced medical and service technologies and an unparalleled level of seismic safety, all of which will be focused on the compassionate concern for patients that has distinguished Saint John's for 57 years.

Principal buildings are scheduled to be completed in 2002 and 2005.