News/PR
Bay Medical To Build $2.4m Cardiac Catheterization Lab Funded In Part By St. Joe Contribution
November 19, 2003
Panama City, FL - Bay Medical today announced plans to build an additional $2.4 million cardiac catheterization laboratory to handle rapidly growing patient volumes. This will be Bay Medical's fourth cardiac catheterization laboratory. Officials from The St. Joe Community Foundation were on hand at the announcement to present a $50,000 check to be used in the purchase of the equipment.
Bay Medical President and CEO, Steve Johnson, said, "Our patient volumes have increased dramatically. Our Heart Institute has been ranked as one of the leading heart programs in the region, and when you combine that with the population growth, our cath labs have been overflowing. We really appreciate The St. Joe Community Foundation for being so generous in helping us meet this community need."
Johnson said physicians at Bay Medical performed more than 5,000 cardiac catheterizations last year alone. "Our cath lab is the only one in the area that can not only diagnose, but can also treat heart disease. We are the only cath lab offering a full range of services such as angioplasty and stents, and we are the only cath lab in the area backed by an open heart surgery program. Given this unique position in the market, we are very busy."
Dr. James Cook, a cardiologist on staff at Bay Medical, says it's important for the community to have a cath lab that performs angioplasty. Studies have shown that heart attack victims who are immediately treated with primary angioplasty have a much greater survival rate than patients who are treated with thrombolytic agents.
"We applaud The St. Joe Community Foundation for supporting us in our efforts to ensure these services are available in our community," says Dr. Cook.
"We are very pleased to be able to make this gift to the hospital," said Britt Greene, President of The St. Joe Community Foundation. "Good health care is a cornerstone of any great community. We want to do our part to make Bay County and the surrounding area a great place to live, work, raise families and retire."
The next cath lab is expected to be open in Spring of 2004.
About The St. Joe Community Foundation
The St. Joe Company created The St. Joe Community Foundation (STJCF), formerly named Northwest Florida Improvement Foundation, in 1999 to invest in community initiatives that pay long-term returns on the quality of life in Bay, Franklin, Gulf, and Walton counties.
Since its inception, STJCF has granted over $660,000 to Bay County; $107,000 in Franklin County; $310,000 in Gulf County; and over $790,000 in Walton County, totaling more than $1,890,000 in grants to the region. STJCF funding currently comes primarily from sales in Arvida communities and RiverCamps, like The Hammocks, Palmetto Trace and RiverCamps on Crooked Creek in Bay County.
STJCF's unique funding structure is based on payments from St. Joe that are a percentage of the proceeds from new sales in specific St. Joe communities developed by Arvida and RiverCamps. Payments continue each time the properties are resold through deed covenants, added by St. Joe at the initial sale, requiring a transfer fee to be paid to STJCF each time a property is subsequently sold. In this way, St. Joe, through Arvida and RiverCamps, and the property owners who live in our neighborhoods are partnering with the community for the betterment of the entire region. STJCF investments are based on building civic infrastructure and providing on-going improvements in the region through grants and initiatives that promote teaching and learning and that create healthier communities. To learn more about STJCF or to request a 2002 annual report, log on to www.stjcf. com or contact Pamela Selton, STJCF executive director, at 850.231.6558.