LEWES – The Beebe Medical Foundation has reached its original $22.5 million goal for the Sussex Supports Beebe Healthcare campaign that backs a new residency program, health clinics and operation renovations.
Beebe Medical Foundation has increased its fundraising target by an additional $7.5 million, bringing the new goal to a total of $30 million.
Beebe Medical Foundation President Tom Protack said that the increase was spurred by donors who continue to reach out with generous campaign gifts.
“We are hearing from our donors that there’s more work to do,” he added. “So, I am announcing that we are raising the campaign goal to $30 million.”
The Sussex Supports fundraising campaign began in July 2021 to start a new family medicine program, purchase a mobile health clinic, establish Beebe’s Center for Breast Health, upgrade a catheterization lab, and renovate the Tunnell Cancer Center. Such capital fundraising is one way for nonprofit health care systems to raise needed capital improvement funds to get new facilities or programs off the ground without revenue hikes.
“The R. Randall Rollins Center for Medical Education on our Margaret H. Rollins Lewes Campus is now open,” Protack said. “Its four physician residents are with us this evening. Beebe’s Center for Breast Health has also opened, and the system’s first Mobile Health Unit is now on the road. A catheter lab at the Lewes Campus has been funded, and the first phase of renovations at the Tunnell Cancer Center have been completed.”
The Sussex Supports Beebe Healthcare campaign will now focus on supporting a new clinic in Long Neck for medical residents, deploying a second Mobile Health Unit, upgrading a second catheter lab at the Lewes Campus, completing a fifth operating room for robotic surgery at the Specialty Surgical Hospital, and continuing renovations at the Tunnell Cancer Center, according to Ann Raskauskas, chairperson of the campaign.
“Without the power of philanthropy, Beebe Healthcare could not meet the needs of one of the fast-growing counties in the United States,” Beebe President & CEO Dr. David Tam said. “Because of you, Beebe remains an independent, nonprofit community health care system caring for you and your loved ones. For more than 107 years, Beebe has been laser focused on the needs of Sussex County and with your help, we are able to do that, thank you.”
