Cincinnati's Jewish Hospital will use a $16 million donation from the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati to help expand its emergency department and to enhance its graduate medical education program. The Jewish Foundation owned the 209-bed teaching hospital until the Mercy Health system of Cincinnati purchased the facility in 2010.
Jewish Hospital will put $10 million of the donation toward an emergency department expansion now underway on the campus. That expansion is part of a broader $80 million renovation slated for completion in 2016. The construction helps fulfill a commitment Mercy made at the time of the hospital purchase, to improve the facility.
The remaining $6 million of the Jewish Foundation's donation will expand graduate medical education programs at Jewish Hospital. Mercy's foundation is conducting a $6 million matching campaign for the funds.
Jewish Hospital's current facilities were designed for a time in which the residency program was a third its current size. The hospital needs more space, to accommodate and grow its residency program. Jewish Hospital will use the donated funds for capital improvements, including enhancing an auditorium, conference rooms, teaching rooms and on-call rooms. The funds also will bolster an existing endowment, which Jewish Hospital hopes to grow to $12 million from $6 million by 2020.
Jewish Hospital offers residency programs in internal medicine, general surgery and podiatry — 67 residents currently participate. The hospital hosts upward of a dozen medical students as well as one or two fellows at a time. The teaching programs attract applicants from the U.S. and abroad.
Jewish Hospital leaders expect the improvements to the graduate medical education program to enhance the facility's ability to attract top-tier applicants, to keep the graduate medical education relevant and to sustain a pipeline of physicians for the Cincinnati area, according to Nanette Bentley, director of public relations for Mercy Health's Cincinnati market.
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