Campaign Kickoff Event

$100 Million Goal and Special Partnership Announced

Speaking to 300 Overlook Hospital supporters, former Governor Thomas H. Kean announced that Overlook Hospital Foundation will raise $100 million to transform care at the hospital.

"I know from my experience in public service that behind every great endeavor are two driving forces," said Kean, the honorary chairman of the foundation's Next Century of Healing:  The Centennial Campaign for Overlook Hospital.  "-Leaders with an inspiring vision and the communal will to achieve a common goal.  Overlook has the leadership, and its communities have the will to make this a pivotal moment in the hospital's history."

Kean's address launched the public phase of the campaign Thursday, May 24 at the Hilton at Short Hills.  The campaign's $100-million goal is more than six times larger than any previous fundraising effort at the hospital.  Bruce F. Wesson of Summit, chairman of Overlook Hospital Foundation, served as the event's host.

Following Kean, Joseph A. Trunfio, president and chief executive officer of Atlantic Health, the nonprofit parent of Overlook, announced Atlantic Health's commitment to match, dollar-for-dollar, all community gifts designated for construction and capital purchases, a first in Atlantic Health's history.

"That's how much Atlantic Health believes in Overlook," said Trunfio.  "That's how much Atlantic Health wants to see the hospital of the future begin at Overlook and how important we expect Overlook's role in the medical care of this region to be.  We want to be full partners with you."

Alan Lieber, the chief operating officer of Overlook, laid out the campaign's vision,  focused on transforming patients' experience of hospitalization and treatment.

Overlook will

• transform cancer care by constructing a 26,400-square-foot cancer center to consolidate

  cancer diagnosis, treatment, specialists, and services in one location;

• focus on women's health with a new maternal-fetal center and a new breast health

  center, featuring the state's first all-digital mammography suite;

• install PatientVision touch-screen computers at every bedside so patients have

  medical information to assist them in decisions about their care; have full access to the

  Internet, television, music, on-demand movies, and games; can view lab results and

  images with their doctors; and order services and meals;

• build the hospital room of the future with nearly 75 percent of rooms eventually

  converted to single occupancy for privacy, improved outcomes, and some bedside

  procedures; and

• create endowments for medical leadership positions, continuing education for nurses

  and other health professionals, and Overlook's palliative care program.

The installation of computers at every bedside is believed to be the first of its kind in the United States.

The Next Century of Healing Campaign has raised more than $50 million to date, announced David Hartman of New Providence, the campaign's chairman, a figure that includes Atlantic Health's match for gifts from the community.

Hartman also reported that the campaign has gained the largest gift in the hospital's history, $6 million for an unrestricted endowment.  He announced as well the fourth-largest gift in Overlook's history, $2 million toward the breast health center.  Both donors have requested anonymity.

The foundation has committed a separate $10 million from its own assets for the hospital's new entrance, traffic approaches, cancer center, PatientVision computers, and changes to surgical suites and the recovery area.

Quietly underway for two years, the fundraising effort will run another three years. For more information on the campaign please contact Senior Director of Planned Giving and Capital Campaigns at kenneth.cole@atlantichealth.org.