FEATURE
by Jennifer Schaefer
The Campaign for Swedish
�
The successful, system-wide fundraising initiative launched on January 1, 2007, can be characterized by a series of numbers: 7 years, the Campaign’s length. $100 million, its original goal — the most ambitious in Swedish’s history. $130 million, the amount of money the Campaign had raised by its conclusion on December 31, 2013. 61,000, the number of people who contributed. 2,000,000, the approximate number of patients these funds have helped. But, of course, numbers don’t tell the whole story — or stories, as the case may be. Because every Swedish patient has a unique story that together combine to tell another, farther-reaching one — the story of a stronger health-delivery system that is able to offer better treatment options and more access to advanced research and clinical trials than it did seven years ago, thanks to the generosity of community members. This latest chapter of Swedish’s history has roots that, like the rest of the medical center, date to 1910, when ten Swedish-born physicians, led by Dr. Nils Johanson, each contributed $1,000 to start Swedish Hospital. Dr. Johanson and his colleagues would undoubtedly have been proud to watch their humble hospital, which began with just 24 beds, grow into the largest nonprofit healthcare provider in the greater Seattle area, as well as to see it continually strive to provide better care to the communities it serves. On the following pages, you’ll read the stories of several Swedish patients and learn about how the Campaign has helped provide them with enhanced care and improved health — and, equally as important, a greater sense of hope. It’s a story we can all be proud of.
w w w. s w e d i s h f o u n d a t i o n . o r g
3