Vol. XIX, No. 4, Fall 2011
AND THANKS TO YOU: While showing up to show help honor the Seifer for their generous gift, VNA of Cape Cod Certified Ostomy Nurses Betty Brady and Margaret Cox, received a note of appreciation themselves from the donor. “My favorite nurses!” he declared.
Some four months after opening its doors to patients in June, a brand new $2.3 million addition to Falmouth Hospital finally got its official name.
On October 12, the Blanche and Joel D. Seifer Women’s Health and Imaging Center shed its anonymity to recognize the providers of a $1 million contribution that played the leading role in making this new facility possible.
If there’s any significance to the delay, the date chosen also happened to represent the North Falmouth couple’s 64th wedding anniversary.
The Seifer Center is located on the second floor of the Medical Office Building adjacent to Falmouth Hospital. Included in the center are two digital mammography rooms, three ultrasound rooms, one digital radiography (X-ray) room, one bone density room, five patient changing rooms, a meeting room where patients can access the Internet and workrooms for mammography and ultrasound technologists. There also is a dedicated reading room for radiologists to view and interpret images on location.
And one of the Digital Mammography Suites, it was announced at the simple ceremony, was funded by $250,000 gift from the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Charitable Foundation Trust as represented by bank CEO Dorothy Savarese.
“The Seifers’ generosity has made it possible for thousands of Upper Cape residents to receive the latest and best imaging services close to home,” said Mike Lauf, Cape Cod Healthcare President and CEO.
The Seifers, each 86, have lived full-time in North Falmouth since 2006, when they moved permanently from Boston to what had been their summer home for more than 40 years. Mr. Seifer is retired from the company he owned, United Builders Supply Company in Framingham.
After Mr. Seifer returned from service in World War II where he saw action in the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge they started the company on a shoestring. “He drove the truck, I kept the books and other family members helped out. That way we kept the overhead pretty low,” Mrs. Seifer recalled with a chuckle.
“But we did well,” Mr. Seifer chimed in and over the years they have been generous to their community in return.
The Seifers’ leadership gift to the imaging center is the latest in a long list of contributions the couple has made to Cape Cod Healthcare. In addition to their support of Falmouth Hospital, the Seifers also have donated to Cape Cod Hospital, the VNA of Cape Cod, and the JML Care Center.
“We feel it is important to support the community we call home,” Mr. Seifer said. “Blanche and I are no strangers to Falmouth Hospital, so when we heard about the new center being built, we wanted to do what we could to help make it happen.”
He added that “this gift is just as much an investment in our health as it is an investment in Cape Cod Healthcare and Falmouth Hospital.”
Mrs. Seifer recalled the chore of having to go to Hyannis for a series of treatments that now will be available in her own backyard and both have availed themselves of Cape Cod Healthcare’s various services over the years.
Despite its gender specific name, the center also will provide imaging services to men. It is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with evening hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. It is also open every other Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. To arrange Mammography and Ultrasound appointments, call 1-877-224-2009.
Meanwhile, those who receive also shall give.
While unveiling six and seven-figure gifts to its new women’s imaging center at Falmouth Hospital, Cape Cod Healthcare announced two separate $30,000 gifts to Duffy Health Center in Hyannis and to Community Health Center of Cape Cod (CHC) in Mashpee.
The money will be used toward completion of Duffy’s comprehensive $1 million capital campaign to construct its new building on Main Street; and also toward completion of the CHC’s ongoing $9.25 million campaign to expand its facility in Mashpee.
“Our mission at Cape Cod Healthcare comes down to ensuring that patients have access to the right care at the right time in the right place,” said Michael Lauf, President and CEO, Cape Cod Healthcare, explaining the purpose of the gifts. “The Duffy Health Center and Community Health Center of Cape Cod are a vital part of this mission.”
The new Duffy building opened in April. It enabled Duffy to move from three leased sites of approximately 8,000 square feet into one building of 14,000 square feet. The new site includes 13 exam rooms, allowing for more efficient provision of medical services.
Karen Gardner, CHC’s CEO noted their expansion project “will allow us to increase patient caseload from about 13,000 to more than 18,000 per year.”
“Among our Community Benefits priorities is increasing access to healthcare for homeless individuals and families, and for uninsured and under-insured populations,” Mr. Lauf said. “That’s why these gifts are so important.