For More Information Please Call:
Marge Sullivan, Palm Healthcare Foundation, 561.833.6333
Melanie Otero, The Waters Pelton Organization, 561.626.0026 ext 11
Jennifer Abbott, The Waters Pelton Organization, 561.626.0026 ext 19

WEST PALM BEACH, FL. – On December 14, 2006 at the Kravis Center Cohen Pavilion, supporters, grantees and healthcare professionals gathered for Palm Healthcare Foundation’s 5th Anniversary Celebration. A highlight of this celebration included Palm Healthcare Foundation’s 2006 Commitment to Community Awards.

Each year the award is presented to individuals who provide outstanding voluntary leadership and have made significant contributions to strengthen healthcare in Palm Beach County.

• This year’s honorees include:
  
  Dr. Deborah Raines, Professor of Nursing at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Raines has been instrumental in the development, delivery and research related to Palm Healthcare Foundation’s community-wide nursing Preceptor of Excellence program – a program designed to enhance the skills of preceptors and honor them for the important role they play in training nurses, particularly new nurses. Dr. Raines was recognized for developing and delivering a superb workshop for mentors associated with the foundation’s nursing scholarship program, and for her countless hours of dedication to advance Palm Healthcare Foundation’s nursing work.
  
  Debbie Harding, Licensed Practical Nurse. Debbie Harding contributes endless hours to Palm Healthcare Foundation in support of their nursing initiatives. She became involved with Palm Healthcare at the Foundation’s first Nursing Distinction Awards Ceremony and has been a member of the organization’s volunteer family ever since. Ms. Harding has served on Palm Healthcare Foundation’s Nursing Celebration Dinner Committee for the past five years, helping to raise thousands of dollars by chairing the fundraising committee for the event. Palm Healthcare Foundation’s Nursing Distinction Awards recognize those who serve as an inspiration to others in an effort to improve the quality of healthcare, discover new ways to assist those in need, and display compassion and caring on a daily basis. As an LPN and a lung cancer survivor, Ms. Harding won the hearts of the event’s audience last year when she gave a touching testimonial about her experience of nurses taking care of nurses.  
  
  Dr. Seena Zierler-Brown, Associate Professor of Pharmacy at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Dr. Zierler-Brown came to Palm Healthcare Foundation four years ago with an innovative concept of providing patients who were diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases one-on-one disease management counseling.  The goal of this program was to provide each patient with extended medical care and education not provided through a typical doctor's visit. With a modest grant from the Foundation, she began this project at the Samaritan Gardens community health center in West Palm Beach; Palm Healthcare Foundation funded the start-up operations of Samaritan Gardens Community Health Center with a five-year $1 million grant. As a result of her vision and passion, she turned this program into a model that has been licensed and replicated at two other health centers in Palm Beach County, Caridad and Care Link. Dr. Zierler-Brown was recognized for her unwavering optimism, enthusiasm and dedication to both her students and patients, which has touched the lives of many people in our community. 
  
  Roxanne Stein, WPTV/News Channel 5 anchor. For the past five years, Ms. Stein has been instrumental to Palm Healthcare Foundation and WPTV News Channel 5’s Signature Event, Palm Healthcare Foundation’s Nursing Celebration Dinner. For the 2006 event she spent five days filming the Foundation and The Palm Beach Post’s Nurses of Distinction to open the Nursing Dinner Celebration with a touching video tribute recognizing the outstanding nurses in Palm Beach County. She has spent hours filming and writing segments for the nightly news that highlight the nursing shortage and healthcare issues in Palm Beach County that Palm Healthcare Foundation seeks to address.  
  
  The Merrill Lynch Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Management—Lansing, Lacy, Hutcheon Group, the first organization to ever win the Palm Healthcare Commitment to Community Award! The three individuals of this organization, John Lacy – Jack Lansing and Susan Hutcheon, give an average of 40 volunteer hours to over 50 charities in the community each week.  Not only do they offer their financial expertise to non-profits, but also personally support those charities near and dear to their hearts. All three individuals have given their time and talents to the Palm Healthcare Foundation, recruiting and overseeing the panel of judges for the Nurse of the Year Award.  John Lacy, one of the team members, serves on the Palm Healthcare Foundation board and has provided his expertise to the organization.

Another key highlight of the celebration was the unveiling of the plans for the new Palm Healthcare Pavilion and the Mollie Wilmot Children’s Center, a state-of-the-art $12 million project designed to improve the health and quality of life for children with special healthcare needs, and provide innovative training and support services for their families through partnerships with the region’s leading academic medical institutions.

In the past five years the Foundation has distributed more than $14 million to over 70 local non-profit organizations in Palm Beach County operating over 130 programs that met its funding goals.

About Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc.
Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc. was chartered in 2001 as an independent community healthcare foundation. Believing that “Together We Can Do More,” the foundation’s mission is to transform healthcare challenges by bringing together the talents and resources of the community to create innovative solutions that deliver high-impact results. The Foundation’s funding priorities—access to healthcare, healthcare quality and safety, healthcare technology, healthcare policy and healthcare workforce—are designed to empower non-profit healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals to create programs and services that improve the quality of life for Palm Beach County’s underserved citizens.  Since 2001, the Foundation has distributed more than $14 million to over 70 non-profit organizations in Palm Beach County operating over 130 programs that met its funding goals.  To learn more about Palm Healthcare Foundation, please visit www.palmhealthcare.org.