Gala raises $900K+ for hospital group
Nearly 700 supporters helped raise more than $900,000 at the third annual Salah Foundation Broward Health Ball gala fundraiser.
The sold-out event, staged at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, was organized by the Broward Health Foundation, the hospital group’s fundraising arm. It featured a cocktail reception, dinner, live entertainment, and live and silent auctions. This year’s theme was “Philanthropy Rocks.”
“There was more community involvement in this year’s ball, which means there was more community support for our community hospitals,” said Traci Allyn Shur, an event organizer and director of foundation operations. “This was a chance for the community to show its support and be philanthropic in a fun way.”
Proceeds will help Broward Health’s four member hospitals.
Broward Health Coral Springs will upgrade its pediatric and adult emergency departments, including adding dividers between patients treated in the fast track area, renovating the EMS area, and completing a new bereavement room. Proceeds will also go toward purchasing an ultrasound kiosk, a blood analyzer, a nitrous oxide machine and a flexible intubation scope.
Broward Health Imperial Point will renovate its medical surgery unit by converting all patient rooms into private rooms, upgrading the bathrooms and showers, furniture and more. Broward Health North will purchase equipment for its trauma department, including an MRI-compatible anesthesia machine and diagnostic equipment.
Broward Health Medical Center will use proceeds for It’s All About KIDS, a $20.6 million capital campaign that will renovate and expand its Chris Evert Children’s Hospital.
Dennis Stefanacci, the foundation’s president and CEO, said auctions at recent balls have focused on the project. About $6.5 million has been raised.
Another project that benefited from the ball was the A.J. Acker Virtual Hospital, a patient simulation training program that utilizes mannequins that simulate various symptoms and disorders.
The program is used for nurse employees’ continuing medical education and recertification programs, Stefanacci said.
“The lab replicates all possible medical conditions and crisis situations so that if such a situation happens at the bedside, they will have had the training and experience to deal with it,” he said.
For more information, call 954-712-3980 or visit BrowardHealthFoundation.org.