The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Movie stars urge help for Sharon Hospital
DANBURY — Hollywood actor Meryl Streep has made an appeal for financial donations to help Sharon Hospital and its hard-hit Nuvance Health parent company recover from the coronavirus epidemic.
“Our family has relied on Sharon Hospital for decades, for all sorts of emergencies, and I think that right now, at this important time, we need to thank the staff at Sharon Hospital,” Streep said in a 90-second video posted Tuesday on social media. “We also need to step up and support Nuvance Health.”
Streep is the latest celebrity to help Sharon Hospital meet a $1 million matching grant for loses incurred fighting the COVID-19 outbreak.
“As someone who is personally connected to the Sharon community, I’ve seen firsthand how courageous, dedicated, professional and resilient the clinical staff are at Nuvance Health hospitals,” said actor Liam Neeson in a video posted on social media in April. “Let’s show the Nuvance Health heroes how much we appreciate their devotion and commitment to patient care.”
Nuvance is the $2 billion network of hospitals in Connecticut and New York that was at the center of the state’s fight against the coronavirus during the infection surge in April. The year-old health network, which also operates Danbury and Norwalk hospitals, was stressed but not in crisis during the surge, with enough beds, staff and supplies to fight the virus.
But Nuvance hospitals lost money when they suspended elective surgery to clear the deck for COVID-19 patients. Furloughed staff and increased coronavirus expenses deepened the network’s deficit.
In response, Nuvance launched a $5 million philanthropy drive, and had raised over $3 million by early April, when billionaire philanthropist Leonard Blavatnik added another $1 million donation.
The Hollywood-backed appeal for Sharon Hospital is separate.
“An anonymous donor came to us and said, ‘If you can raise $1 million for Shar
on Hospital, I will match it,’” Nuvance spokesperson Andrea Rynn said.
Information about the campaign is at nuvancehealth.org/coronavirus/ givenow.
The homemade video productions belie the movie stars’ high profiles, but are very much in step with the quarantine style of the last two months.
Television celebrity Sam Waterston stood in front of his window to record his appeal, for example, underexposing his face.
“I’m asking you to give the staff at Sharon Hospital the thanks they richly deserve and the help and support they need,” Waterston said in a video posted last week.” You can say ‘thank you,’ and at the same time help them meet the challenge grant of $1 million now on the table.”