The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
$3M gift launches neonatal intensive care at UH Ahuja Medical Center
Builds on 'multi-generational support' of UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital
A $3 million commitment from Richard Horvitz and Erica HartmanHorvitz will benefit University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center by helping to introduce neonatal intensive care to the campus.
The family’s generosity will be recognized with the naming of the Richard Horvitz and Erica Hartman-Horvitz Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, officials noted this week.
“Our family has been deeply involved and committed to UH for decades,” said Richard, who has served both as a director of the UH board for 17 years and is currently a member of the UH board of trustees.
“It is both our pleasure and a privilege to express our dedication to the health system and its mission through a gift to the UH Ahuja Phase 2 expansion,” he added. “We can think of no better way to give back to this amazing community than by supporting its most vulnerable.”
According to a news release, the new Horvitz Neonatal Intensive Care Unit will be equipped to care for premature and critically ill newborns, helping to ensure that each baby born at UH Ahuja has every chance for a healthy beginning.
The “state-of-the-art unit,” part of the new Steve and Loree Potash Women & Newborn Center, will be staffed by UH Rainbow neonatal specialists and include 12 patient rooms, each with space for family to stay.
The couple’s commitment builds on the Horvitz family’s multi-generational support of UH. Richard’s late father, Leonard Horvitz, and his wife, Joan, made a lead gift of $7 million in 1995 to build the Horvitz Tower at Rainbow.
Additionally, the family made a $5 million gift to UH’s “Discover the Difference Campaign” to name the Marcy R. Horvitz Pediatric Emergency Center, first at the main campus and later with an additional gift at Ahuja, both in memory of Richard’s late wife.
Recently, Richard’s daughter, Danielle Weiner, who serves as presidentelect of the Rainbow Foundation, along with her husband, Michael, committed $2 million to help build the Danielle and Michael Weiner Maternity Suite at UH Ahuja.
“In ways great and small, Richard and Erica have been true and abiding friends of UH,” said UH CEO Dr. Cliff A. Megerian.
“Through both philanthropy and volunteerism, the entire Horvitz family has given selflessly for generations and left an enduring mark on our health system,” he added. “The impact they’ve made in this community and continue to make in the lives of our patients is phenomenal.”
Part of the UH Ahuja Phase 2 expansion, the new Potash Women & Newborn Center brings the trust and collaborative care of UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s and UH MacDonald Women’s hospitals to the eastside of Cleveland, meeting the growing need for maternity care and advanced labor and delivery services, the release stated. It is estimated that the center will deliver approximately 2,400 babies annually.
“It is fitting the Horvitz family, with such a longstanding relationship to Rainbow Babies & Children’s, continues their generosity in support of expanding our renowned neonatal services to our eastside patients,” said Patti DePompei, president of Rainbow and MacDonald Women’s hospitals.
“Most expectant families do not plan for their baby to need a NICU, but should a premature birth or medical condition requiring intervention occur, it’s important to be close by specially-trained physicians and nurses for the best possible care of a newborn and their family.”