Giving Strength Newsletter

The main lobby at BID Needham features a new tool in the effort to safely dispose of dispose of personal prescriptions like opioids and narcotics that are not needed. As a result of a partnership between BID Needham and Substance Prevention Alliance of Needham (SPAN), the new drug disposal kiosk will help decrease the amount of accidental, unintentional or intentional misuse, as well as improper disposal, including flushing into the water stream.

“The opioid epidemic is a concern everywhere, including Norfolk County,” says Rebecca Stone, MD, president of the BID Needham Medical Staff. The disposal initiative is one of the hospital’s efforts to confront this epidemic as part of a new Opioid Taskforce. The taskforce hopes to improve education for patients and providers and develop inpatient and outpatient prescribing guidelines for our clinicians.

“We hope that the community does their part in fighting the opioid epidemic and keeping medications out of the hands of those who may misuse them,” says Catherine Delano, director of SPAN.

Having safe places to properly dispose of medications may encourage people to clean out their medicine cabinets and remove expired or unused medicines as soon as they don’t need it anymore, says Joe Giovangelo, director of BID Needham’s inpatient pharmacy. “Proper medication disposal helps reduce the chance that children, the elderly or others may accidentally take medication, or even intentionally misuse it.”

The drug disposal kiosk is located in the main lobby of BID Needham, using the entrance off of 148 Chestnut Street, Needham. The kiosk is free, anonymous and confidential. An additional drug disposal kiosk is also located at the Needham Police Station for safe drop-off. No needles (including epi-pens), liquids in quantities greater than four ounces, or illegal drugs may be submitted. Needles may be disposed of at the Needham Recycling & Transfer Station.

Dave Stevenson has been involved with the hospital’s board of trustees and advisors for nearly twenty years. Mary Ellen has an even longer has history with the hospital.

“I lived in Needham as a child, moved away and returned in seventh grade. My mother volunteered at the (then Glover) hospital. I recall going door to door with her asking for donations when I was only 12. Our children were born at the hospital in 1969 and 1972."

When Dave retired from Arthur Andersen in 1998, his friend Bill Meagher (then Board Chair) asked him to get involved with the hospital. From the start, Dave helped with philanthropy. “The board in 1999 was primarily Needham friends of our age group. We saw the Board and management needed to be modernized in many ways in order to survive and become competitive in the increasingly complex health care environment.”

Today, they are proud of how the hospital has transformed into the world-class institution they envisioned two decades ago. Dave is gratified by the many accomplishments of those he encouraged to join the board and share the importance and privilege of being able to help the hospital. He cites as one example the impact of former Trustee and now fellow Board of Advisor member Greg Hoffmeister.

“Greg feels strongly and speaks eloquently about what BID Needham has meant to his family—grandparents, siblings and children. With people like him to lead the next generation, we are confident about the future of our hospital.”

Mary Ellen and Dave now predominately live in Naples, Florida, and in Dedham for part of the year, but still maintain their link to BID Needham. “I think it’s our history and a sense of real progress and accomplishment over the last 20 years” says Dave. The couple agrees that whether as patients, volunteers, board members and donors, they feel “included, listened to, respected and involved—our connection to the hospital remains strong.”

Over their lifetime, the Stevensons have given nearly half a million dollars to the hospital, in addition to their support of their other favorite charities: their church in Naples and Dave’s alma mater, Bowdoin College.

Though Dave says, “I never imagined our collective giving would have amounted to that level when he first got involved. We're blessed with reasonably good health. We live in two generous and caring communities. We are not into material possessions. We get our satisfaction by volunteering and giving to our favorite charities.”

Through the years, Mary Ellen and Dave have been recipients of care at BID Needham. While they stress they do not want or expect special treatment, every person they encounter at the hospital is welcoming and genuinely helpful. Their long time relationships with Drs. Earl Woodman, Chris Salvo, Tom Connolly, Steve Cohen, Joe Kannam, Mark Haffenreffer and Peter Ostrow have earned their trust and loyalty. Mary Ellen recently saw Dr. Stephen Eyre, the chair of the urology department, for a chronic condition.

“When I saw him for the first time, he sat beside me, looked me in the eye and said, ‘Tell me about yourself.’ I thought it was wonderful. He wanted to know what I had to say.” Dr. Holly Kilim (endocrinologist) is another new favorite of theirs.

Their most recent gift to name a space in the cardiology unit of the new Outpatient Clinical Center is a reflection of their long-term commitment to the hospital. “We have loved being a part of this caring community. While we don't have unlimited resources, we feel fortunate to have been able to help the hospital in the past and we hope to be able to do more.”

For the Trotmans, giving back and community involvement has become a family affair.

The Trotman family has become one of the most steadfast philanthropists at BID Needham, giving first to the campaign to build the Cancer Center and Surgical Pavilion and now supporting the new Outpatient Clinical Center with a $1.5 million gift, one of the largest gifts in the hospital’s history.

Connecting to the community
When Valerie Trotman learned about the next phase of growth for the hospital—the new 37,000 square foot Outpatient Clinical Center—she didn’t hesitate to support expanding access to world-class care for the community to receive cardiac, gastric and orthopaedic services, close to home. As one of the first major gifts to the building, Valerie was drawn to the new pedestrian footbridge that connected the hospital to the new center.

“The sketches of the bridge just looked so beautiful; there’s something magical about bridges,” Valerie says. “There’s a lot of symbolism there—connecting to the community, to patients, to the future.”

“When we think about putting our name on something like that, it’s symbolic and meaningful to us,” agrees Samantha. “It’s our way of saying that this family feels closely connected to the town of Needham, to the mission of the hospital and we’re here to stay.”

There is a thrill in giving back, Valerie feels, and in making the world a better place than it was before you came. One of the many things they appreciate about the hospital is that you can see your impact, large and small. As a board of trustees’ member on the finance committee, Samantha says she looks at the finances: “I know where the money goes! Anything that you can do to offer up your support and then show the way to your kids—that's really what this is about.”

Learning by giving
Valerie and her husband, Alex emigrated to the U.S. from England in 1969. Alex became the Chairman & CEO of Ford Motor Company, and over the years, they both attended many charitable functions. These events sparked a growing interest in the enormity of need and how they could help.

They set up the Trotman Family Charitable Fund to facilitate their charitable donations. Alex died in 2005 and all gifts made from the Trotman Family Charitable Fund are made in his memory.

“My mother and father didn't have the benefit of parents who were anything but just trying to make a living,” says Valerie’s daughter Samantha Trotman Burman. “They've had to make this up as they go along. I've had a lot more guidance with respect to philanthropy, and hopefully my children will as well. It's a lot about doing something that outlives you.”

Family leads the way
Both Valerie and Samantha strongly agree that they must do everything they can to support this hospital, in both large and small ways. “When you’re here, you feel that you're with friends,” says Valerie. “It's like a big family and more personal. I think that concept is just so special, and so important to maintain and strengthen this community hospital.”

Samantha says her children recently asked "Why's the hospital important? We don't use it that much." And she told them, "that’s why it’s important—to know it’s there, four minutes away, when we need it.”

After leaving the for-profit world in private equity and health care, Samantha Trotman Burman became involved in the hospital eight years ago at the recommendation of fellow Dover-resident Carol Lisbon.

Lending your name
Valerie soon became involved with the hospital after learning about the exciting things happening at BID Needham from Samantha. The Cancer Center particularly interested her because she survived breast cancer and spent a summer going into Boston for radiation treatments: “The idea of having people being able to come here for that instead of spending all that time to go to Boston was exciting.”

After the Trotman family, including Valerie, Samantha and her sister Helen, gave a gift to the Cancer Center, the hospital in turn named the Trotman Family Glover Café in their honor. A photo of Alex Trotman hangs over the family’s favorite table in the café.

“The concept of naming buildings and spaces never intrigued me until it occurred to me the influence it has on the kids,” says Samantha. “I kept Trotman as my middle name, but there are no children with our Trotman family name in the United States. When the kids come to the hospital, even if they don't often, they see the photo of their grandfather and remember the special night celebrating the opening of the café together. That to me was much more meaningful than I initially expected.”

The café was an apt choice for Alex Trotman. At Ford Motor Company, he was well known for walking into factories and shaking everybody's hand, so much so that by the end of the day, his right hand would be sore. But he wanted to talk to the people who made things happen; in the Trotman Family Glover Café, physicians, nurses and staff gather among patients and families to enjoy a good cup of coffee, just the way Alex liked to do.

When asked what her late husband Alex Trotman would have thought of the family’s impact on the hospital, Valerie asks her daughter, “I think he’d be delighted, wouldn’t you say?” “Yeah, he'd be tickled pink,” agrees Samantha.

As a successful businesswoman and politically engaged community member, Chair of the Board of Advisors Seana Gaherin finds strength in serving others.

Dunn-Gaherin’s Food and Spirits has served Newton, Needham and the surrounding area for 27 years. What motivated you to open it and what’s the key to its success?
My partner Bob Dunn grew up in Needham and always had an interest in the restaurant business. The key has been serving the community. Pubs are basically the original community centers—if you think about their purpose in Ireland, they really serve the community. People worked hard all day in the agricultural fields and then would come to the pubs, to socialize, to find out was going on with their neighbors, and to just connect. My passion has always been connecting with people and giving back; here, I can help bring people together.

Where does that passion to serve come from?
I think it's my heritage; I'm a kid of Irish immigrants and they had to work hard together, collectively, to help one another survive and thrive. I was raised to believe that in order to succeed in life, you have to do more for others—giving back with no expectation of getting back. I’m inspired by Benjamin Franklin, believe it or not, one of the founders of American philanthropy, who helped open the first public hospital in Philadelphia. He saw that a wide range of people can help create, support and serve the things that we need in our neighborhoods to keep us healthy and happy.

What did you want to accomplish when you joined the hospital’s Board of Advisors in 2016?
I felt like it was such an honor and such a privilege to be one of 60 people who have this tremendous enthusiasm for the hospital. I see my role as mobilizing my relationships and making connections to help shed light on what the hospital does, to speak out about this extraordinary gem that we have in our community.

But we can never rest on our laurels as we face new legislations and new challenges. My hope is that people in the community dig deep and understand the issues that can impact our everyday lives, like the nurses’ ratio mandate on the ballot this November. This rigid mandate does a disservice to what we’ve built here, and takes away the real-time decision-making from the nurses on the frontline. We must work carefully to protect the high-quality, world-class care that we have built here.

Are there moments from your experiences here that you are most proud of?
The hospital has helped see my husband's parents through their life and so many challenges, with medical care, and just as importantly, with social work, which becomes so critical with Needham’s aging population. My brother-in-law was diagnosed at BID Needham with lung cancer and was airlifted to the main campus, which saved his life for a few more years through his journey.

I’m also tremendously proud of our Emergency Department staff. They showed so much strength around the tragedies that we endured in town this year, helping assist families and friends with a great deal of compassion.

In the end, I get to be part of this amazing organization that's led by incredible people, like John Fogarty and Sam Sherman. They bring together this level of professionalism, a vision for responding to the growing needs of the community, and I get to be a part of that team. Together, we can accomplish so much.

Needham Bank is dedicated to lifting up the local communities that surround it, supporting over 320 area charities and non-profit organizations, including BID Needham. That commitment goes beyond local zip codes—the bank now has customers in 43 states, with its largest client in Silicon Valley, attracted to Needham Bank’s focus on exceptional customer care.

The 125-year old bank has continued to excel because it has been innovative and adaptable. Recently appointed CEO Joe Campanelli sees those same commonalities at BID Needham. Campanelli says that more than that, service and community tie the organizations together as two pillars in the local landscape: “We both believe in serving people—clients and patients—and the community. When you do those two things, something significant happens and I hope that people here value that.”

As a long-time board member at Tufts Medical Center, Campanelli is keenly aware of the area’s health care environment and the importance of community hospitals. “Needham has a level of sophistication that once was only available in the city, whether it be banking or healthcare. You don't need to go into Boston to see a big bank nor do we need to have to go to Boston to see a specialist,” says Campanelli.

That is why Needham Bank recently pledged a gift of $100,000 to the Outpatient Clinical Center, to reinvest in the organizations that add value and bring services and expertise to the neighborhood.

For Needham Bank, supporting the community is a simple formula for success: “When you invest locally, it's a multiplier. Reinvesting supports more jobs, people who have more jobs can afford better schooling, people with better schooling can get a better job, and so on.” Campanelli and his team feel that what community banking—and community health care—provide local residents are the tools to make their community stronger.

One of the keys to Needham Bank’s success that Wellesley-resident Campanelli sees is taking what the bank has fundamentally been successful in achieving in Needham and applying it to all the communities they serve. “Our goal is really to make every community feel as if it's our headquarters by really understanding what's important to Needham, Ashland, Wellesley, Dedham and beyond.”

Over the past ten years, the hospital has undergone a physical transformation, with steady support along the way from the Medical Staff at BID Needham. After supporting the Cancer Center and Surgical Pavilion campaign with the largest gift in their history, the clinicians voted to stand behind the new Outpatient Clinical Center with a gift of $100,000.

The BID Needham Medical Staff includes nearly 760 physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, many of whom are also on staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They pay annual dues, typically used for staff education and enrichment.
According to president of the Medical Staff, Rebecca Stone, MD, being a part of the Medical Staff at BID Needham means becoming a part of strong-knit community. “You get to know your colleagues. It’s a huge benefit for us and our patients that we coordinate and communicate really well, with this incredibly high-level of care.”

The endorsement of the practitioners who will be using the new center sends a strong message of encouragement, says John Fogarty, BID Needham's president and CEO. "We have some of the most talented medical staff around and they make a choice to practice here. It means a great deal when they go above and beyond for our hospital."

“We wanted to once again show our support for all that this new center will do for our staff and patients: expand access to care, develop new medical programs and accommodate the rising need for care that we are seeing on a daily basis,” says Dr. Stone.

The doctors, nurses and staff helped envision the new Outpatient Clinical Center, walking through every detail with the architects and design teams, as well as taking patient feedback into consideration. This involvement is key to creating the most comfortable and convenient space for patients and clinicians.

“This new space will reflects the high-level of care that’s already happening here, besides accommodating the rising need for care that we are seeing on a daily basis. We knew we wanted to support that,” says Dr. Stone.

The Bulfinch Group created The Bulfinch Group Charitable Foundation in 2013 to raise and distribute funds to health and human services, educational and cultural non-profits throughout New England. To date, The Bulfinch Group Charitable Foundation has awarded more than $250,000 to over 50 non-profits including Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Needham’s new Outpatient Clinical Center, Riverside Community Care’s Trauma Center, and more.

“We are proud that every Bulfincher and their family members can apply for grants for their favorite causes,” explains Foundation President Leslie Medalie. “This translates to Bulfinchers participating in the Alzheimer’s Walk, the Pan-Mass Challenge, community and school events, Veteran’s causes, Breast Cancer awareness and so much more,” she elaborates.

The Bulfinch Group Charitable Foundation has selected the BID Needham as a grant recipient because of the hospital’s vital role in the health of the community. “Our gift to support the new Outpatient Clinical Center is not a ‘naming opportunity’ but rather signifies the partnership between Bulfinch and the hospital,” notes Bulfinch Group Founder and President Seth Medalie.

Each year, the BID Needham trains Bulfinchers on life-saving CPR and emergency techniques; this training has proved invaluable and has literally saved lives. The Bulfinch Group plans to expand these types of workplace health-training initiatives to offer services throughout the area.

The Bulfinch Group’s mantra is Be Professional, Give Back, Have Fun. “As a wealth management and protection firm, being Professional is of paramount importance,” comments Partner & Executive Vice President Kevin Schneider. The firm’s “Give Back” motto is expressed through the Foundation’s many charitable endeavors. But most importantly, Bulfinchers have fun with annually-organized events including a Bowling Bash, Charity Golf Tournament, farm-to-table cooking classes at The Farmhouse, “fun raising” scavenger hunts with the Needham Historical Society, and more.

“At Bulfinch, we are passionate about what we do, we enjoy being with each other, and we are committed to being a part of this thriving community,” concludes Bulfinch Partner & Senior Vice President Thomas Harmon.