GREENBRAE -- Marin General Hospital has received a $1 million donation -- the second donation of significance within the past few months -- that will help fund the hospital's cancer, cardiovascular and spine and brain institutes.
Longtime hospital supporter Reta Haynes and her husband, H.J. "Bill" Haynes, who died in 2009, directed $500,000 to benefit the Marin Cancer Institute, $450,000 toward programs and services of the Haynes Cardiovascular Institute -- named after the couple in 2009 from previous support -- and $50,000 to support the Marin Spine and Brain Institute.
“This latest gift from Reta Haynes is a wonderful vote of confidence in the hospital’s new direction,” said Lee Domanico, chief executive officer of Marin General. “We are touched by the Haynes family’s fervent devotion to the hospital and recognition of the need for strong community leadership in ensuring that patients in our community have access to state-of-the-art medical care.”
The donation carries on nearly 50 years of support of Marin General Hospital by Reta Haynes and the Haynes family, both financially and as patients, the hospital said.
“We made a decision when we moved to the area, almost 50 years ago, that Marin would be our family’s center for medical care,” Mrs. Haynes said. “We have stood by that decision, and all of our physician care has been provided by local doctors. We always chose Marin General Hospital when any surgical procedure or hospital care was required. We have always believed in the commitment by the administrators and physicians to uphold the hospital’s core values to serve our community with excellence and compassion. This recent contribution is consistent with our family’s pledge to support medical research and higher education, through personal giving and through our Foundation.”
The new funds are earmarked for purchase of a state-of-the-art PET/CT scanner for the Marin Cancer Institute, which specializes in treating breast, prostate, genitourinary, and gastrointestinal cancers.
The Haynes Cardiovascular Institute will purchase critical new pieces of equipment:
a left ventricular assist device to provide a treatment option for critically ill patients experiencing cardiac failure or shock in recovering from a heart attack.
a 3-D echo machine and software to enable detailed anatomical assessment of cardiac pathology.
an intravascular ultrasound upgrade that allows physicians to acquire images of diseased vessels from inside the artery.
The gift to the Brain and Spine Institute will serve as a key sponsorship of the 2011 Golf Tournament fundraising program to significantly broaden services. In December 2010, the hospital announced a new joint venture that provides a single point of access in Marin for world-class, comprehensive multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary treatment and management of spine and brain disorders and disease.
The Marin General Hospital Spine & Brain Institute added elective neurosurgery, including brain surgery, to its spine program and trauma/emergency neurosurgery services through a unique partnership between Mt. Tam Spine Center, Marin General and the University of California, San Francisco, Neurosurgery department. The program is the only one in Marin with focused spine and brain surgery expertise.
“As longtime contributors to the hospital and its services, the Haynes family has shown again and again what it means to be a caring partner with our community,” said Jon Friedenberg, president of Marin General Hospital Foundation. “This gift will have a significant impact on patient care for years to come.”
Mrs. Haynes’ husband, Bill, who died in 2009, was former CEO of the company that became Chevron. He also was a consultant to the Bechtel Corp. until his death. In the early 1990s Mr. Haynes was one of the first patients to have quadruple bypass surgery at the hospital. He was also a surgical patient at Marin General for bladder cancer. Mrs. Haynes was a spinal surgery patient there in 2001.
She also cites the high level of nursing care and kindness she received, and that she also witnessed during her husband’s hospital stays.
In March, the hospital received a $2.89 million donation toward expanding and upgrading the level 3 trauma center’s emergency department. That donation, one of the largest in the hospital’s history, came from the Schultz family.
The first phase of construction on the department is planned to be completed by July, the hospital said.
