Hospital asking community to show its heart by donating to vascular center
It was hard to say what was more remarkable Friday when people gathered in a construction area at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Brainerd.
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It could have been the amount of money already raised for the Brainerd Lakes Heart and Vascular Center even during a recession.
Or it could have been Dr. Don Wennberg's personal account of his own heart attack three years ago.
In a kickoff event, St. Joseph's Foundation announced a fundraising campaign for the Heart and Vascular Center at St. Joseph's. It's called the "Heart of the Community" campaign. The goal is to raise $4 million in donations out of a $12 million project. Tom Prusak, Brainerd Lakes Health chief executive officer, said the project has raised about $3.3 million and is seeking about $700,000 more.
Campaign Chair Dr. Don Wenberg related the story of his own heart attack during the fundraising kickoff Friday for the Brainerd Lakes Heart & Vascular Center.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
Construction on the Heart and Vascular Center began this spring with Nor-Son Inc. An unnamed donor provided $1 million to start the project. That donation was matched by St. Joseph's Foundation. Then the medical center started an internal fundraising effort, receiving $234,900 in employee donations among other donations.
Additionally, Prusak said the unnamed donor is urging community support and will match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000 until Dec. 31.
Jani Wiebolt, St. Joseph's Medical Center president said the heart center is on track to be completed in January of 2010. Wiebolt said the fundraising has proceeded much faster than expected and no one thought the donor would come back with another gift. The donor will be revealed in the future. Prusak said the heart center will be named for the donor and family. St. Joseph's Foundation reported the donor bestowed a "generous future estate commitment for continuing support and ongoing technology needs as heart center services expand."
As part of the fundraising effort, the medical center is sending letters to seasonal homeowners and community leaders were identified who will be challenging their business peers to for donations. Prusak said the support was gratifying and would make a difference in the lives of people in the community now and for years to come. He noted those attending the kickoff event were in space that one day will be dedicated to the treatment of people with heart disease.
The Heart of the Community Fundraising Campaign kicked off at the future site of the Brainerd Lakes Heart & Vascular Center Friday at St. Joseph's Medical Center.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
Dr. Wennberg, Campaign Steering Committee chairman, said when he first felt pain in his upper abdomen that morning he wondered who was on call that day who would be removing his gall bladder. But when he felt the squeezing motion in his chest he knew he was probably having a heart attack.
"So as I'm taking my shower," Wennberg said, producing laughs from the crowd, he was still considering driving to the clinic and getting a ride to the hospital from there. Instead he called 911.
He dressed, threw a few things in a bag - keys, magazines, phone, insurance card - took his dog out to a fenced area and sat in a lawn chair waiting for the ambulance.
"I walked out to the end of the driveway to hail them down," Wennberg said, recounting his experience with such dry humor the story was punctuated by laughter many times. On his way to the hospital, Wennberg said he thought "please don't take all my clothes off, I know all these people."
In the air ambulance helicopter on the way to St. Cloud, Wennberg recalled looking at his heart monitor.
"It didn't look good and so I thought it's much better to look out the window," he said. So he turned his attention to the treetops. It was more enjoyable but it reminded him of his time as a doctor in Vietnam. "Even that was a more pleasant thought than looking at my monitor."
With a stent in place and his chest pain a memory, Wennberg said it wasn't a pleasant experience but the outcome was quite acceptable. And the lack of chest pain was beautiful, he said.
"They said I couldn't drive for a couple of weeks," Wennberg said, pausing before a conspiratorial grin grew on his face. "But I did. ... I was a good patient - for the most part."
Five weeks later he had two more stents put in.
"The exciting thing is that these doctors are now going to be here at our cath lab.... the exciting thing is that Brainerd/Baxter is going to have this facility. I just went across town. I got to the emergency room within minutes. People that live 20 to 30 miles from here are taking up valuable time just to get here and now have to fly out elsewhere to have their caths or care and that won't be the case in the near future."
"That was first-hand testimony how physicians make the worst patients," Wiebolt said and smiled.
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.