Asante receives largest-ever corporate gift — $3 million from Rogue Credit Union
Published 5:00 pm Friday, September 29, 2023
- Construction crews work at the Children's Hospital at the Asante patient pavilion in Medford Friday.
Rogue Credit Union has pledged $3 million toward construction of a new pavilion at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. The amount is the largest-ever corporate gift to the health care provider.
The money will go toward the pavilion’s top two floors — five and six — which will house the Olsrud Family Women’s and Children’s Hospital, a facility scheduled to begin accepting patients in February.
The pavilion will expand Asante’s services for surgical, cardiac and critical patients.
The sixth floor will include a pediatrics unit, which “comprises 16 pediatric inpatient rooms that prioritize comfort, care and privacy,” according to press materials. “Each room is a single private room with a private bathroom and has expansive views of the Rogue Valley.”
The unit will also contain an “active room” for play and a “quiet room” for “art and reading,” press materials said.
The sixth floor will have an outpatient clinic where children with serious conditions, such as cancer and blood disorders, can receive infusion-based treatments — chemotherapy, for example.
The credit union’s pledged donation was raised through the health system’s philanthropic campaign, AsanteForward, which set out to raise $50 million over 10 years. Asante has raised $58 million over about six years.
Although Asante has met its goal, the provider has decided to continue the campaign “because the need is so great,” Andrea Reeder, Asante’s senior vice president and chief philanthropy officer, said in an interview.
“What we have heard from the community, and from the board at the foundation, is that we simply must keep going,” Reeder said, “and so I think later, in 2024, you’re going to see an expansion of the current campaign that (focuses) on our new highest priorities for health in our community.”
The patient pavilion connects to the main Rogue Regional building. “That new pavilion will become the front door of Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center,” Reeder said.
She said that, if Asante had decided to fund the pavilion through profits, the provider would have needed to generate $1.7 billion in revenue.
“Without philanthropy, this absolutely would not be possible,” she said.
Asante plans to recognize the credit union with signage at the pediatrics unit.
“They have been partnering with Asante since the very beginning, serving the same demographic that we serve,” Reeder said, “and so we just see them as a longterm strong partner for us, and we’re incredibly, incredibly grateful.”