Past donations made to the Haywood Regional Medical Center Foundation will not be used to help the hospital through the current crisis.

Money raised by the hospital foundation is not part of the reserves the hospital will lean on to stay afloat until patients return.

“Foundation funds are kept separate from the hospital. They are not co-mingled with the hospital reserves or operating funds,” said Robin Tindall-Taylor, director of the foundation.

The HRMC Foundation has $2.34 million in the bank. The lion’s share is earmarked for two specific projects: $1.02 million to construct a hospice center and $400,000 for a surgery support wing.

“Donations designated by the donor for a specific project such as the surgery center or the hospice center are earmarked by law for those purposes only. They can not be redirected without donor permission,” Tindall-Taylor said.

Money is only transferred from the foundation’s bank accounts to the hospital with a vote of the foundation’s 20-member board. So far, no money raised under the auspice of the surgery center has been transferred to the hospital. The foundation waits until it has raised the amount it pledged to raise and transfers it at one time.

“We don’t just give it in drips and drops,” said Phyllis Prevost, president of the foundation board.

The surgery support wing is on-hold indefinitely due to the crisis. The project did not include new operating rooms, but did include holding rooms where patients wait for and recover from surgery, an outpatient family waiting room, rooms for endoscopy procedures, a new entrance to the hospital, and shell space to house new administrative offices one day.

The price tag was $16.6 million. The surgery center — driven by former CEO David Rice — was to be paid for largely with the hospital’s reserves plus whatever the foundation could raise. Those reserves will now be tapped to get the hospital through the crisis, however.

Surgery center donors can reapply their money to a new cause or ask for it back.

“So far nobody has asked for their earmarked money back. However, there is that option,” Prevost said.

A letter will soon be sent to all donors to share news of the hospital’s situation, Tindall-Taylor said.

As far as the hospice center, the hospital had not pledged any money toward its construction. The hospice center will cost $3 million. Once $1.5 million is raised, hospice can start construction on phase one. The project is being driven solely by private donors and grants, so belt-tightening by the hospital shouldn’t jeopardize it.

“It is very possible and hopeful that the new hospice center will proceed,” Tindall-Taylor said.

In addition to specific projects, the foundation has $760,000 in a general endowment fund. The fund pays for special projects like medical equipment decided by a vote of the foundation board. The foundation does not provide money for general operations of the hospital, Prevost said.

Sometimes donors make their own earmarks for things they think the hospital needs, such as chaplain support or new gowns for the mammogram department.

Donors keep giving

The hospital foundation is considered highly successful, rivaling the fundraising arm of hospitals in much larger cities. The Foundation raised $600,000 in 2007 and captured another $780,000 in pledges.

In addition to the foundation’s $2.34 million in the bank, it has $950,000 in pledges, mostly for the surgery support wing but some for the hospice center as well.

Both Prevost and Tindall-Taylor doubt the crisis will have an impact on the foundation’s fundraising ability. In fact, it has been quite the opposite.

“We have people who are giving money right now,” Prevost said. “Everybody is as confident as I am that the hospital will rise from the ashes and be better and bigger than ever. Community support has been unreal, unbelievable. People are calling wanting to be volunteers and they want to know how they can donate money to us.”

The outpouring of support prompted the Foundation to set up a “Crisis Assistance Fund.” The Foundation Board will meet with hospital officials in the near future to define immediate needs, and donors will be informed how their dollars will be used, Tindall-Taylor said.

Like most non-profits, the foundation board is self-perpetuating, meaning the sitting board members nominate and appoint new members. The board members are approved by the hospital board.

Support your hospital

Supporters of Haywood Regional Medical Center will meet from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, at the Waynesville library.

“The purpose of the meeting is to get a core group together to organize a rally to show support for the hospital,” said Sally Schaefer, a midwife at Haywood Women’s Medical Center and one of the organizers for the rally. “We will be looking at ways to garner community attention and shine the spotlight on what a wonderful community hospital we have.”

For more information, contact Otis Sizemore at 828.926.2494 or e-mail Sally Schaefer at singschae@hotmail.com.

There is also a weekly prayer walk sponsored by Vine of the Mountains at 8:30 a.m. each Thursday. Meet in the lower parking lot at the Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center.