I hope your year is off to a great start! The Adventist HealthCare philanthropy team offers our heartfelt thanks to our cherished 2024 philanthropy partners. Your generosity helps ensure that Adventist HealthCare can continue to provide exceptional care in every community we serve.
With your help, Adventist HealthCare continues to be the trusted choice in community healthcare. As our partner, we want you to know that your gifts are being put to good use and patients and their families are grateful.
In gratitude,
Andrew Dziuban, Vice President Philanthropy & Donor Relations
Philanthropy Matters at Adventist HealthCare
As a faith-based, nonprofit health system, we rely on donations from the community, grateful patients and their families, and employees.
In 2024, we raised $6,689,983 system-wide ($226,806 from our employees).
Donor gifts allow us to further our mission by helping to purchase equipment, expand our facilities, fund programs and support staff.
Philanthropy Partners
Why Give?
Your gifts help ensure that people like Deb Vaughn and her husband, Ken, get the care they need.
As Deb explains:
“As a pastor and chaplain, I’ve helped others navigate life’s challenges, particularly in end-of-life care. But nothing prepared me for the emotional turmoil when my husband Ken and I were both diagnosed with aggressive cancers within months of each other.
During this difficult time, Adventist HealthCare’s team offered us extraordinary support, providing both compassion and expertise when we needed it most. From the warm front desk staff to the dedicated doctors and nurses, Adventist HealthCare was truly remarkable. Tragically, Ken’s cancer progressed too quickly, but the care he received in his final months was dignified and full of love. As for me, I’m grateful to be here today, thanks to the skill and grace of the Adventist HealthCare team – and the generosity of so many. I now have an added perspective on how vital Adventist HealthCare is to our community.
As someone who has also benefitted from this exceptional place, I urge you to support Adventist HealthCare so others can experience the same level of care that we did. I am living proof that the kindness and generosity of others can change someone’s life. Together we can do the same for others in our community.”
I am living proof that the kindness and generosity of others can change someone’s life. Together we can do the same for others in our community.
Your Gifts in Action
Facility Dog Accelerates Recovery for Rehab Patients
Adventist HealthCare Rehabilitation – Rockville recently welcomed Marcy to the team. Marcy is following the footsteps of the wildly popular facility dog, Peru, who calls White Oak Medical Center home. Both dogs have been rigorously trained to work with rehabilitation patients. Marcy knows more than 50 commands. She can open and close a drawer, pick up dropped items, push an elevator button and help someone take off their jacket.
Research has shown that patients who work with a facility dog stay on task longer because the dog takes their mind off the pain or anxiety. Marcy was a gift to Adventist HealthCare from Canine Companions. Marcy and Peru’s care and feeding is supported by generous donors.
Improving Care Through Technology, Training, Education and Early Intervention
Over the past six months, donors made it possible for Adventist HealthCare to acquire several state-of-art the art technologies that improve care.
• White Oak Medical Center purchased advanced simulation and AV equipment turning its training room into a high-fidelity simulation center. Now, physicians, nurses, respiratory, physical and occupational therapists experience immersive, interdisciplinary training in as close to a real-life clinical experience as possible.
• Rehabilitation nurses are now more adeptly inserting IVs and completing blood draws using AccuVein, a visualization system that detects the position of veins for greater efficiency and fewer failed peripheral vein insertions.
• Nurses and respiratory staff at White Oak Medical Center are being trained for high-fidelity ventilation management using an ASL 5000 Lung Solution, a breathing simulator that can mimic the full range of patients from neonatal to adult.
• Shady Grove Medical Center anticipates improved outcomes for patients needing to be intubated with the use of the recently acquired GlideScope, a visualization system that facilitates endotracheal intubation.
• Donor dollars are paying the salary of a part-time, bilingual nurse to provide diabetes education to Spanish-speaking patients across Adventist HealthCare’s Clinically Integrated Network.
• Courtesy of a grant from the Brem Foundation to Defeat Breast Cancer, medically underserved women have access to screenings and diagnostic breast exams making possible early intervention.
• Patients in the Med-Surg Unit can recover, and their families can visit comfortably thanks to donor dollars used to purchase 17 La-Z-Boy mobile medical recliners and 10 guest chairs.
Donors Make the Difference
Gaithersburg Family Repeats its Generosity with $1 Million Gift to Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center Tower
Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center has received a $1 million gift from businessman and philanthropist Conrad V. Aschenbach in memory of his wife, Lois. The gift will help the hospital fund a six-story patient tower, which is currently under construction to upgrade emergency and critical-care spaces.
The donation is the second transformative gift that the Aschenbach family has made to emergency services at Shady Grove Medical Center. In 1993, Conrad and Lois gave $500,000 to help expand and rename Shady Grove’s Emergency Department in memory of their son, Robert.
“The Aschenbach family has lived and thrived in the Gaithersburg area for decades. As President of the King Automotive Group, Conrad is a highly regarded business leader,” explains a family spokesperson. “It’s important to him that we give back to the community. Contributing to a stateof-the-art patient tower means our gift will keep giving well into the future.”
Look for the full story in the Spring issue of the “Adventist HealthCare & You” magazine.
It’s important to him that we give back to the community. Contributing to a state-of-the-art patient tower means our gift will keep giving well into the future.
Harnessing the Power of Corporate Philanthropy
Adventist HealthCare is grateful for its many corporate partners, and proud to work side-by-side with business leaders who share our values and choose to support their community hospital. Together, we are ensuring healthier more economically stable communities. Organizations that make giving a priority attract and keep top talent and experience higher customer satisfaction.
To learn more about the Corporate Partners Program and a list of partners visit AdventistHealthCare.com/Give/Corporate-Partners.
BXP Makes Giving a Corporate Activity
As they have for the past three years, in 2024 BXP gave both direct financial support and volunteer hours to support the programs and services of Adventist HealthCare The Lourie Center for Children’s Social & Emotional Wellness.
This year’s projects included working with the children in Head Start to create a garden, scarecrow painting in the fall, a school-supply drive for The Lourie Center school and its Therapeutic Nursery Program and prepping for the school year.
Our heartfelt thank you to the leaders at BXP who make this partnership possible.
News and Events from Around the System
Fort Washington Medical Center Earns Honor for Reducing Patient ED Wait Times
US Acute Care Solutions (USACS) gave Adventist HealthCare Fort Washington Medical Center (FWMC) the Exceptional Achievement and Site Transformation award for implementing significant front-end enhancements aimed at streamlining patient intake, reducing bottlenecks and ensuring that those in need of urgent care are seen quickly.
USACS is the largest physician-owned provider of integrated acute care medicine and partners with hospitals around the country, including FWMC. “This award is a testament to Fort Washington Medical Center’s commitment to delivering exceptional emergency care while focusing on safety and quality, to ensure patients receive the best care possible,” says Dr. Amit Kalaria, USACS regional vice president and emergency medicine physician with the Adventist HealthCare system. To read the whole story, visit WTOP.com/sponsored-content/2025/04/adventisthealthcare-fort-washington-medical-center-honored-with-award-for-reducing-patient-waiting-times
White Oak Medical Center Earns Award for Physician Wellness Program
Supporting the well-being of our providers, and all team members, is a top priority at our hospital. Maintaining a continuous focus on well-being strengthens our commitment to providing highquality, safe care to patients and the community. It also supports our Mission to extend God’s care through the ministry of physical, mental and spiritual healing.
Using donated funds, White Oak Medical Center built a program for physicians and Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) that includes training, coaching and counseling and teambuilding activities designed to prevent stress, fatigue and burnout, which often leads to depression and anxiety.
Silver Beacon Award for Excellence Given to Shady Grove Medical Center
Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center has been awarded the Silver Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
This national recognition honors the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Progressive Care Unit (PCU) for its dedication to outstanding patient care, teamwork and nursing excellence. A generous gift from the Ronald and Joy Paul Family Foundation will help ensure that the ICU continue to be an award-winning facility.
Shady Grove Medical Center is among a select group of hospitals to receive this distinction for work during 2024, reflecting its commitment to innovation, evidencebased care and continuous improvement in patient outcomes. The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes hospital units that uphold the highest standards in leadership, collaboration and patient safety.
“This award is a testament to the dedication of our ICU and PCU teams,” said Ansanus “Obi” Obizuo, Director of Critical Care Services at Shady Grove Medical Center. “Their commitment to excellence, collaboration, and patient safety ensures that we provide the highest standard of carte in a supportive and healing environment.” Shady Grove’s ICU and PCU achieved this recognition by implementing key initiatives that significantly improved patient care and staff engagement.
Their commitment to excellence, collaboration, and patient safety ensures that we provide the highest standard of care in a supportive and healing environment.
Betty Beats was a Big Hit as She Led the Heart Month Celebration
February was American Heart Month. To celebrate, Adventist HealthCare’s new heart care team member, Betty Beats, traveled far and wide to raise awareness of the need to care for your heart health … at any age.
We also hosted a comunity health chat on women’s cardivascular health and the importance of keeping your heart rhythm in check, which can be found at AdventistHealthCare.com/Living-Well/ Webinar-Your-Heart-Health-Chat.
A grateful patient also shared his story on a recent episode of the “Adventist HealthCare & You” podcast. Marathon runner, Joel Shuler was fit as a fiddle, or so he thought, until he woke up in pain one morning. He was having a heart attack. After two procedures and months of cardiac rehabilitation at White Oak Medical Center, Joel fulfilled a life-long dream of running the Berlin Marathon. You can listen to this episode, “A Heart Attack Survivor’s Story,” on our website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube Music.
Know your heart risk, take 5 minutes to complete this health risk assessment AdventistHealthCare.com/LoveYourHeart. Your loved ones will be glad you did.
