By SCOTT DAUGHERTY Staff Writer
When a Davidsonville family gave Anne Arundel Medical Center $3 million in 2003 to help fund a cancer institute, it was the largest private donation in the 106-year-old hospital’s history.
But that wasn’t enough for the DeCesaris family.
JoAnn DeCesaris, the matriarch of the family, announced a $2 million donation yesterday to support a new Pediatric Emergency Department and Inpatient Unit.
“AAMC’s vision to gear this new unit toward children and children only is really what prompted our family’s second gift to the medical center,” she said in a prepared statement. “Children need specialized care, especially in an emergency room, and when you think of the number of regional families that will need access to this kind of care, this unit just makes sense.”
According to the hospital, nearly 15,000 children visited the AAMC emergency room last year. In all, the emergency room handled more than 72,000 visits.
Justin Paquette, spokesman for AAMC, said the new pediatric emergency room and inpatient unit will allow doctors to treat children separate from adult patients. The unit will be located on the first floor of AAMC’s new patient tower, a $153 million project expected to open in 2010.
“The new emergency department will be the only such location in Anne Arundel County designed specifically to care for sick and injured infants, children, and teenagers,” said Dr. Michael Clemmens, an AAMC pediatrician.
Mr. Paquette described the DeCesaris family as “a pillar of AAMC.”
After Mrs. DeCesaris and her husband, Geaton, donated $3 million to AAMC in 2003, the hospital named its new cancer institute in their honor. Mr. Paquette said the Geaton and JoAnn DeCesaris Cancer Institute now has more than 22,000 treatment visits a year.
Mr. DeCesaris, former president and CEO of Washington Homes and later president of the Hovnanian Land Investment Group, died in April 2006 of non-smoker’s lung cancer. He was 50 and left behind five daughters, two sons-in-law and five grandchildren.
Mr. DeCesaris, a Washington, D.C., native, was diagnosed with cancer six weeks before he made the $3 million donation. In the months that followed his diagnosis, he underwent chemotherapy and major thoracic surgery, which included the removal of the lining of the lung.
His family credited a pre-surgery pilgrimage to holy sites in Fatima, Portugal, and Lourdes, France, with stymieing the illness.
Mrs. DeCesaris said the latest donation was made in the spirit of her late husband.
“I think this gift would fall right in with ways he envisioned helping the people in the region, many of them new parents,” she said.
Before his death, Mr. DeCesaris talked about how he’d like to help the AAMC emergency room, she said.
“He talked about how to positively impact the care of an entirely different patient population than those helped in the cancer institute. This donation will help make that impact a positive reality,” Mrs. DeCesaris said.
Lisa Hillman, executive director of the AAMC Foundation, credits the DeCesaris family with bringing more to the hospital than their $5 million in donations.
“The DeCesaris family is tremendous in their recognition of the needs of this region,” she said. “They are more than donors; they are really partners in helping AAMC deliver care. Our hospital is extremely fortunate to have their support.” {Corrections:} {Status:}
DECESARIS GIFT WILL HELP BUILD PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY ROOM
(c) 2008 Capital (Annapolis). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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