Southcoast Health System & Southcoast Hospitals Group

Charlton Charitable Trust pledges $2 million to St. Luke's Campaign

Donation for new Emergency Department is the largest ever received by St. Luke's Hospital

— John B. Day
President & CEO
Southcoast Health System

For Immediate Release Contact: Joyce Faria Brennan

November 1, 2006 508-961-5270

brennanj@southcoast.org

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Read a timeline of the Charlton family's support of Southcoast Hospitals

Earle P. "Chuck" Charlton II
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Earle P. "Chuck" Charlton II today announced a $2 million dollar pledge from the Charlton Charitable Trust to benefit the $33 million expansion project at St. Luke's Hospital, the New Bedford site of Southcoast Hospitals Group. The gift is the largest ever received by St. Luke's.

The pledge is the first of its kind made by the Charlton Trust to St. Luke's Hospital and continues the long legacy of giving to another Southcoast hospital, Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River.

"Part of the intent of the Charlton Charitable Trust is to help ensure the people of southeastern Massachusetts have what they need," Charlton said. "We chose to make this pledge to St. Luke's because, as part of Southcoast Health System, the hospital provides essential services to the area."

"This generous gift to St. Luke's Hospital from the Charlton Charitable Trust once again demonstrates the Charlton family's support for Southcoast as the leading provider of health care in the region," said John B. Day, President & CEO of Southcoast Health System. "Bringing the best possible services and technology to St. Luke's benefits the entire area and we are thankful to Mr. Charlton for helping us in this endeavor."

"We are extremely grateful for this gift," said Ronald B. Goodspeed, MD, MPH, President of Southcoast Hospitals Group. "It will help Southcoast ensure that our neighbors, family and friends will get the care that they need, right here close to home."

From left, Ronald B. Goodspeed, MD, MPH, President of Southcoast Hospitals Group; Augusta Haydock of the Charlton Trusts and Bank of America; Michael Garfield of the Charlton Trusts and Bank of America; Stacy Charlton; Earle P. "Chuck" Charlton II, and John B. Day, President & CEO of Southcoast Health System.
Earle P. "Chuck" Charlton II is trustee of the Charlton Charitable Trusts that were established by his grandfather, Earle Perry Charlton, founder of E.P. Charlton Five & Ten Cent Company, which later became F.W. Woolworth. Concerned with improving health care in the area, the elder Charlton began a legacy of support for Charlton Memorial Hospital and its predecessors that continues to this day and has now expanded beyond Fall River.

One of Charlton's first gifts was $25,000 in 1923 for a new wing to Truesdale Hospital and four years later an unprecedented $500,000 to fund the entire Charlton surgery wing. Truesdale Hospital became Union-Truesdale in 1975 and was renamed Charlton Memorial Hospital in 1980 with a $1 million contribution by the Charlton trust to the Union-Truesdale building fund. The family trust has continued their support throughout the years, most recently (2001) making a $2 million donation to Southcoast's open heart surgery program.

"As a not-for-profit organization, Southcoast depends upon the ongoing support of the community to help us meet the constantly growing and changing health care needs of the region," said Barbara H. Mulville, CFRE, Vice President of External Affairs for Southcoast Health System. "That support enables us to maintain and develop programs and services that are essential to the well-being of everyone on the South Coast despite the harsh financial challenges health care organizations are now experiencing."

A New St. Luke's

Scheduled for completion early 2007, the $33 million, three-year project includes 50,000 square feet of new construction and 40,000 square feet of renovations — all within the hospital's current footprint.

The cornerstone of the New St. Luke's is the new Emergency Department. The new ED will expand to 51 treatment bays — all of which are both private and loaded with the latest high-tech medical equipment.

The ER will also include:

ExpressCare 24 @ St. Luke's, to rapidly evaluate and treat patients with minor complaints, such as flu, ear infection and suture removal.
Two new negative-pressure decontamination rooms for the treatment of patients with contagious diseases.
A new, specially dedicated private meeting area for families.
GPS-type tracking system for continuous pinpointing patients' locations.

The project also includes renovations of four floors in the adjacent Memorial Building, the addition of 27 new semi-private and nine new private patient rooms, as well as the McBratney Amphitheatre for medical education and a second cardiac catheterization lab. St. Luke's total number of operating rooms will increase from 18 to 20. The two new operating suites will feature the latest high-tech equipment.

Final construction and preparations are being completed on the Emergency Department and patient rooms on the third and fourth floors with completion slated for the end of the year.

About Southcoast

Southcoast Health System, a not-for-profit charitable organization, is a community based health delivery system with multiple access points, offering an integrated continuum of advanced health services throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and East Bay, Rhode Island. It includes Southcoast Hospitals Group, formed in 1996 from the merger of Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham.

Southcoast has more than 40 ancillary facilities, including the Southcoast Health Van, home health care, hospice and infusion services, numerous outpatient medical services, an assisted living facility and a wellness center. For more information visit www.southcoast.org.

Southcoast is one of three community hospitals approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to perform open heart surgery and primary angioplasty beginning in Spring 2002.

Media Contact

Joyce Faria Brennan
Phone: 508-961-5270
Pager: 508-387-9605
Fax: 508-961-5876
brennanj@southcoast.org