In early 2021, Kearney, Nebraska’s CHI Health Good Samaritan Foundation received its largest donation to date courtesy of an exceptionally generous anonymous donor. The transformational $5.25 million contribution is being used to fund three significant projects for the benefit of the hospital’s patients.

"We're honored to be the recipient of such deep generosity given to improve the health of our community," says Randy DeFreece, director of the Good Samaritan Foundation. "This gift ensures everyone in our region has access to important services so they don't have to travel for care. We're incredibly grateful the donor shares our same mission."

The gift will make possible advances in care across multiple areas of the hospital. Plans are being solidified to purchase new Positron Emission Tomography - Computed Tomography (PET/CT) equipment, costing $2.3 million, to replace an older system located in the hospital's cancer center. The only system in the 225 miles between North Platte and Lincoln, the equipment’s high-tech images capture changes at the cellular level, identifying diseases like cancer, in their earliest stages.

"This gift ensures everyone in our region has access to important services so they don't have to travel for care. We're incredibly grateful the donor shares our same mission."

Another $2.2 million is being utilized to convert one of the hospital's three cardiac catheterization labs to a dedicated hybrid cath lab. With the added ability for both surgical and intravascular procedures to be performed in the same room, the hybrid cath lab will enable the hospital to provide new vascular, interventional cardiology and cardiothoracic procedures traditionally found only in larger metropolitan facilities.

The remaining $750,000 will fund a refresh of Good Samaritan’s Wellness Center, originally opened in 2000. The renovation will replace cardio and weight equipment, furniture and televisions as well as update the general aesthetic of the facility. Another area of focus will be one of the center's drawing points, the Turttle® Pool, one of only ten facilities of its kind in the world.

"For the last year, health care has been intensely centered on COVID-19," says Michael Schnieders, president of Good Samaritan. "We're hoping to shift some of our focus back to wellness, disease prevention and continuing to provide high-quality health care close to home. We're incredibly thankful that the donor's generosity is helping us do that."

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In Gratitude.

As we close 2021, CommonSpirit Health Philanthropy will bid farewell to Randy DeFreece. Under Randy’s 20-year leadership, Good Samaritan Foundation in Kearney, Nebraska has secured nearly $50 million in support.

“I have had the pleasure of working with Randy over the past five years and have been so impressed by his hard work and dedication in taking the CHI Health Good Samaritan Foundation to a new level. I am so grateful for everything he has done and will miss Randy’s professionalism, empathy and strength,” said Kathy Bertolini, Divisional Vice President, CHI Health Foundation.

We wish Randy the best in his retirement and all that lies ahead.

In February of 2021, California’s Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield and the Friends of Mercy Foundation announced the fruition of a $25 million gift from Mrs. Adelaide Karpe originally bequeathed in 1979.

Mrs. Karpe’s husband, A.H. Karpe, was treated in Mercy Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit in the 1970s. At the time, Mrs. Karpe was befriended by a Sister of Mercy, nurse Marian Joseph, who was the Director of the Intensive Care Unit. Mrs. Karpe was so deeply touched by the Sister’s compassion and commitment to Mercy Hospital’s mission that she wanted to honor her in her will.

When Mrs. Karpe died in 1979 she left a 1,167 acre parcel of contiguous farmland to Mercy Hospital. In her estate documents, she had the foresight to restrict her gift to be sold and used only to build hospital facilities. The land was originally purchased by the Karpe family in 1940 for $10. When Mrs. Karpe passed, the land was valued at $1,000,000.

The proceeds from the recent sale of the farmland, now valued at over $25 million, will be used to construct the expansion of Dignity Health’s Mercy Southwest Hospital.

For the last 42 years Karpe Ranch, as it is locally known, has been leased as farmland with the income from the lease funding vital Mercy Hospital projects including state-of-the-art technology and equipment as well as outreach services provided to the poor by Mercy’s Department of Special Needs and Community Outreach.

“For the last 40 years, the proceeds of the lease of the ranch have touched countless in our community, and the legacy of their friendship will continue to impact generations to come.”

Now, the Friends of Mercy Foundation has sold the land with the proceeds to be used for the construction of the $300 million Patient Care Tower at Mercy Hospital Southwest. For the first time, cardiac and neurosurgery will be available to area residents in Kern County. The expansion project will include six additional operating rooms, 106 private patient rooms, a new 24 room Intensive Care Unit and 18 Private Neonatal Intensive Care Unit rooms. The tower will also include state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization suites, greater neurosurgery capabilities and an expanded emergency department.

“This transformational gift blossomed simply from humankindness -- the relationship between a nurse, who was a Sister of Mercy, and the spouse of a patient,” says Toni Harper, Vice President of Philanthropy, Friends of Mercy Foundation. “For the last 40 years, the proceeds of the lease of the ranch have touched countless in our community, and the legacy of their friendship will continue to impact generations to come.”

Mrs. Karpe’s decades-long vision and generosity will literally change the landscape of health care in Kern County, filling a critical need in the community. In recognition of Adelaide Karpe’s foresight and to recognize donors who, like her, have remembered Mercy with a bequest or planned gift, the foundation established Adelaide’s Circle of Caring.

For Rafael Mendez, MD, FACS, the journey from musician to renowned transplant surgeon included a life-changing stop at California Hospital Medical Center.

As the sons of trumpet virtuoso Rafael Mendez, Dr. Mendez and his twin brother, Robert, performed alongside their father around the world, including an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. But the brothers soon discovered a new path in medicine, which combined the technical expertise and sheer joy of creating music with the ability to heal and save lives.

After earning degrees at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Mendez became a board-certified urologist and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and joined California Hospital, where he served for more than 30 years and chaired the Division of Urology. Drawn by the hospital’s commitment to caring for all in need, Dr. Mendez also joined the foundation Board of Directors, helping to raise the resources for the hospital to fulfill this mission. His wife, Sharyl, volunteered to lead fundraising events, and together they donated generously to the hospital Dr. Mendez considered his “home away from home.”

Dr. Mendez’s children, Nicole and Rafael, Jr. (Ralph), fondly recall weekend family outings that invariably included a visit to California Hospital, where they played out front or in the parked car while their father rounded on patients. “My dad loved being a physician, caring for his patients,” says Nicole.  

In addition to his service at California Hospital, Dr. Mendez and his brother headed one of the nation’s largest centers for kidney transplantation at nearby St. Vincent Medical Center, performing thousands of transplants over the course of more than 35 years. They created the Mendez National Institute of Transplantation Foundation to advance research, practice and education with the ultimate goal of bettering the lives of those with end-stage organ disease, and co-founded the organ procurement center OneLegacy, which today is the largest organ, eye and tissue recovery organization in the world.

Even as his work as a transplant surgeon, researcher, and professor occupied more and more of his time, Dr. Mendez’s affection for California Hospital never wavered. “Both my mom and dad developed so many lasting friendships at this hospital,” explains Nicole. “They were more than just professional colleagues – they were like family.”  

As Nicole and Ralph have assumed a growing role in their family foundation, they have sought out opportunities to impact the world in ways that honor their parents. In spring 2021, they pledged a leadership gift to California Hospital Medical Center Foundation for the hospital’s expansion and new tower construction project. “My dad felt at home here because everyone was committed to providing quality care to a community with so much need,” says Nicole. “And now, through this expansion, the hospital will be able to provide the best possible care to even more patients, for decades to come.”

In recognition of this gift, the landscaped plaza at the hospital’s main entrance – where Nicole and Ralph spent many a Saturday afternoon patiently waiting for their dad to finish his rounds – will soon be named in honor of the Mendez family.

In late November of 2018, Dana DeNike was brought into California’s Arroyo Grande Community Hospital emergency department in profound distress. Dana had worked in Arroyo Grande’s emergency department as a nurse for 17 years and now her closest friends and colleagues worked to save her life.

Unfortunately, days later, on December 2, surrounded by her family, Dana passed away. Her death was the result of a suicide.

Known to her coworkers as kind and hardworking, Dana touched the lives of countless patients. Her care, compassion and professionalism helped them and their families through their most vulnerable times. Unknown to those closest to her, however, were the vulnerabilities Dana herself was confronting.

Seeking to cope with the tragic loss of their daughter, Roy and Linda Rawlings decided to honor her memory with a gift of $50,000 to the Arroyo Grande Community Hospital Foundation for the emergency department staff lounge. A new addition to the hospital, the lounge was part of a $6.5 million project, which included the modernization of the emergency department, doubling its size and its ability to care for the community.

“Our family chose to support and honor Dana and all the other dedicated and compassionate emergency department staff members who operate in a challenging and high-stress work environment,” noted her family. “Availability of a peaceful and relaxing emergency staff lounge will hopefully allow for caregivers to have moments of tranquility, which will help to restore their bodies and minds for the stressful moments ahead.”

The family recently donated an additional $15,000 for further improvements to the lounge which now features a shadowbox of Dana’s uniform, stethoscope and other reminders of her dedicated service. When Dana’s father, Roy, passed away in January 2021, it was his final wish for the lounge to be completed and fully outfitted for the staff.  A quote from his favorite poem, “A Smile” will be placed on a piece of artwork above the door to the staff lounge.

“...and if from time to time, you should meet someone
Who no longer knows how to smile,
Be generous-give him yours.”

Following Dana’s passing, one of her brothers, Dr. Luke Rawlings, moved back to San Luis Obispo County to be closer to his family and Dana’s young daughter. Dr. Rawlings now works as faculty with the residents in the Family Medicine Center at Marian Regional Medical Center and in the emergency department at a small local hospital.

Inspired by his sister, Dr. Rawlings has been instrumental in the formation of a wellbeing stakeholders committee that works to destigmatize mental health and provide resources to health care workers. In partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, an anonymous assesment tool, the Interactive Screening Program (ISP), was rolled out this fall to more than 2,500 employees and hundreds of medical staff members at Arroyo Grande and Marian. The tool begins with an online questionnaire and, based on responses, escalates through a series of timely outreach steps to provide resources and connections to those in need, all while maintaining confidentiality and anonymity. Dr. Rawlings is already beginning conversations with other hospitals to introduce them to the importance of these efforts and the difference they can make in hopes of replicating the program elsewhere.

Dana DeNike was dedicated to her work - to changing lives and saving lives. Her legacy of care continues at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital and the lessons learned from her life, and her death, will ripple outward from Marian Regional Medical Center, thanks to the ongoing work of her brother and others dedicated to helping to destigmatize mental health and those in need to find care.