Trustees proclaim August 8 as Rev. Dr. Robert P. Lawrence Day at Charlton Memorial Hospital

For Immediate Release	Contact: Patricia Giramma
June 14, 2007	508-961-5272
	girammap@southcoast.org
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From left: Robert S. Karam, Southcoast trustee and Chair of the Charlton President's Council; Ronald B. Goodspeed, MD, MPH, President of Southcoast Hospitals Group; Rev. Dr. Robert P. Lawrence, and John B. Day, President & CEO of Southcoast Health System.

FALL River, Mass. — The Board of Trustees of Southcoast Hospital Group issued a proclamation declaring August 8 to be Rev. Dr. Robert P. Lawrence Day at the Charlton Memorial Hospital. The proclamation was presented to Rev. Lawrence at the June 6 meeting of the Charlton Memorial Hospital President's Council.

"Rev. Lawrence has been a steadfast supporter of Charlton Memorial Hospital and an anchor of the Fall River community for more than five decades," said Ronald B. Goodspeed, MD, MPH, President of Southcoast Hospitals Group. "It is only fitting that we set aside August 8 — his birthday — to honor him."

"Rev. Lawrence, his late wife, Dr. Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence and the Atwood family has supported Charlton and its legacy organizations, through service and philanthropy, for almost 70 years," said John B. Day, President & CEO of Southcoast Health System. "Their ongoing support not only helps to ensure that top-quality health care continues to be available but sets the example of the need for support for the generations that follow."

The proclamation was read by Robert S. Karam, a Southcoast trustee and Chairman of the Charlton President's Council, who noted Rev. Lawrence's ministry of the First Congregational Church in Fall River and his inauguration of the Pastoral Care Department at Union and Truesdale Hospitals among his many accomplishments.

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

Patricia Giramma
Phone: 508-961-5272
Pager: 978-859-6077
Fax: 508-961-5876
girammap@southcoast.org