February 12, 2008

Mercy Foundation Launches Capital Campaign for Three Major Projects

Mercy Medical Center—Sioux City has initiated a $15 million capital campaign to build a new Intensive Care Unit (ICU), establish a cardiac electrophysiology lab, and to bring a da Vinci surgical robot to the area.

In kicking off the capital campaign at the Mercy Heart Center on Tuesday, officials with the Mercy Medical Center Foundation acknowledged they have already secured more than $10.4 million toward the campaign’s total $15 million goal.

Titled “Your Community, Your Health, Your Hospital: The Mercy Campaign for Siouxland,” the fundraising effort is the first major capital campaign undertaken by the medical center in its 118-year history. Drs. Diane Werth and Allan Manalan, and Carla and Dr. Gregg Galloway are the chairpersons for the campaign. A cabinet of about 50 volunteers is working on the fundraising drive, which is being overseen by the Mercy Medical Center Foundation.

Community Leader and BPI Executive Vice President Regina Roth, the honorary chair for the campaign, said the philanthropic effort marks a milestone for Mercy Medical Center.

“For well over a century, Mercy’s mission of working with others to provide quality healthcare with compassion and respect for all has been witnessed by the Siouxland community,” she said. “Along with quality patient care by physicians and medical professionals, Mercy must provide adequate facilities and seek technological advances for Siouxland. The ability to provide these needed services at home negating families traveling to other regional facilities provides the basis for Mercy’s first capital campaign.”

The campaign will fund three major projects at Mercy including the construction of a new $10 million ICU. To accommodate that new 6,000 square foot facility, a sixth floor will be added to the Mercy Heart Center building.

Mercy officials said the new ICU would create a patient-centered healing environment with the most advanced monitoring technology. Twenty private rooms will be constructed. The renovation of the existing ICU on the fifth floor of Mercy’s south hospital building will create a new space for the Cardiovascular Care Unit. Construction on the new sixth floor of the Mercy Heart Center is expected to start this summer.

Another $5 million from the campaign is earmarked for technological enhancements. Mercy plans to purchase a high-tech da Vinci surgical robot, which is predominantly used for urological and gynecological surgical procedures. The precision offered by the surgical robot allows for less invasive surgery, which reduces discomfort and scarring, and improves overall recovery. The advanced da Vinci technology is currently not available in the Sioux City area,
The campaign will also establish a cardiac electrophysiology lab in the Heart Center. Cardiac electrophysiology (EP) is the study of the heart’s electrical system. EP procedures include pacemaker and ICD (implantable cardiac defibrillator) implantation, diagnostic and interventional studies, cardiac mapping, and ablation (a process that disrupts faulty electrical signals in the heart). The specialized EP equipment is not currently available in Sioux City.

“Our partnership with the community to improve the quality of health care is our No. 1 goal,” explained Dr. Gregg Galloway, a Mercy pathologist, board member, and one of the four chairpersons for the capital campaign.

Fellow campaign chairpersons, Dr. Diane Werth and Dr. Allan Manalan, retired cardiologists, said they were honored to assist with Mercy’s community-oriented campaign.

“We have been blessed to practice medicine in this community with such wonderful patients and co-workers,” Werth stated. “This campaign will enhance facilities and incorporate technological advances to benefit that same community.”

In initiating the campaign, Verna Welte, chairperson of the Mercy Medical Center Foundation said “a gift to Mercy is a gift to Siouxland, a community that prides itself on taking care of its own. This community partnership will help Mercy and Sioux City remain the center for healthcare excellence in the region.”

Mercy cares for more critically ill or injured patients than any other hospital in western Iowa. Nearly 1,100 people were treated at the regional Level II trauma center at the hospital last year.

Currently ranked No. 1 in Iowa for cardiac services, coronary interventional procedures, cardiology services and heart surgery, Mercy performs more cardiac interventional procedures than any other hospital in western Iowa.

Mercy President and CEO Paul Dougherty expressed his appreciation to Siouxland residents who will support the campaign.

“There is a lot of community involvement in this effort, and it reflects a strong will in the community to sustain world class care at Mercy and in the Sioux City area,” Dougherty said. “We care about the Siouxland community as much as we care for our patients.”

Community members interested in learning more about the Mercy Campaign for Siouxland, are asked to contact Lea Clausen, the executive director of the Mercy Medical Center Foundation at (712) 279-2475.

Clausen said several naming opportunities would be available in the new ICU, Cardiovascular Care Unit, and EP lab for benefactors who would like to remember loved ones with their gifts.