![]() In fact, despite the $900,000 raised at the gala, the donors and Hopkins were a long way from assembling the resources that would have been needed to sustain the center - an amount that everyone agrees would have been about $25 million. ![]() (“Our goal,” a Johns Hopkins Medicine spokesperson wrote to me, “was to unite two committed mission-minded organizations that shared a vision of providing both the highest-quality care and the greatest access for our patients.”) Like a marriage match in “Bridgerton,” Sibley got to carry Hopkins’s name, and Hopkins got its treasure. Sibley, former employees also said, wanted an institution with a strong cancer program and a relationship with the National Institutes of Health. ![]() Former Sibley employees told me that Sibley wanted the connection to a major player in medicine, because the economies of scale could help contain the rising costs of hospital insurance. According to a former Sibley executive, Sibley had the cash Hopkins wanted, about three-quarters of a billion dollars in its reserves, foundation and endowments. While Sibley had long catered to Washington’s upper class, Hopkins’s patients include many of Baltimore’s indigent and uninsured. That same year, Sibley was being courted for acquisition by several health-care systems, including Johns Hopkins. “We were practically giddy,” she remembers. But they’d learned that the gala had already raised some $900,000, so instead of opening the auction, they jointly announced, “Let’s skip the fundraising part tonight and just celebrate what all of you have done!” They signaled the band to begin playing, and Sullivan took the dance floor with Tom. How empowering it would be.”) Then she and the incoming medical director of the center, Colette Magnant, a nationally renowned breast cancer surgeon, were supposed to kick off a live auction. (“Imagine having a key that opens the door to all of your health needs. Sullivan narrated a slide show on the Women’s Center. Some Hopkins board members were also on hand. “We are announcing an extraordinary initiative for 2018, so extraordinary that tonight will probably be remembered in Sibley history as the birth of a great and lasting legacy - the establishment of the Johns Hopkins Women’s Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital,” he said, adding that the center “will open this summer in a phased approach.” Davis then introduced a special guest, Kevin Sowers, the newly appointed president of the Johns Hopkins Health System, which had acquired Sibley in 2010. The formal part of the event began with remarks from a female emcee who described 2018 as “The Year of the Woman.” Sibley President and CEO Chip Davis exuded excitement when he took the mic. In the high-ceilinged ballroom, a surfeit of candles flickered on each table and floral arrangements towered above seated guests. Mellon Auditorium, across the street from the National Museum of American History on Constitution Avenue, was packed with tables full of Washington players and reliable local philanthropists. The 570 tickets had sold out early, and a number of D.C. In this spirit, Rachel, who along with husband Tom had already donated nearly $1 million to Sibley over the years, saw the Women’s Center as something that would “make a difference and would endure.” Women needed the support of other women the #MeToo movement had recently underscored this point. Sullivan, then 53, had invited leading female executives and A-list donors from the area - such as Washington doyenne Sandy Bobb and former Xerox executive Debbie Warren - to rally around a cause that seemed perfectly suited to the moment. Their message is winning both converts and critics. Some followers of this movement give up to half of their income to charity.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |