1. Joe_Simunovich_Announces
_10_Million_for_Medical_Center
$10 million mark met for Hackensack University
Medical Center Foundation campaign
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2011
BY STEPHANIE NODA
STAFF WRITER
HACKENSACK CHRONICLE
Hackensack University Medical Center officials and members of its non-profit foundation
announced on Oct. 5 that $10 million has been raised for the new "A Beat Beyond"
campaign - an effort targeting enhanced treatment for patients with cardiovascular and
neurovascular disease.
COLLEEN WHITE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Joseph Simunovich, chairman of Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation board of trustees, at a press
conference on Oct. 5 announcing $10 million raised for the facility's 'A Beat Beyond Campaign.'
The medical center's foundation team expressed desire to meet the $25 million
fundraising goal during the presentation of the $10 million check "We raised 40 percent
of the money and we feel confident, even in this tough economy, that we will raise the
whole $25 million," said Robert Torre, executive vice president of Hackensack University
Medical Center Foundation.

2. The "A Beat Beyond" campaign is an effort to raise $25 million to continue to improve the
quality of care at the Heart and Vascular Hospital, which was recently named "one of the
world's greatest cardiology programs" by Becker's National Hospital Review. The Heart
and Vascular Hospital is one of Hackensack Medical Center's many "hospitals within a
hospital." The medical center, which is also home to a children's hospital, a cancer
center, and women's hospital, will be able to use this money to purchase advanced
equipment and teach techniques for treating patients in its cardiology branch.
"This will transform the way they're being treated because all the services, all the
programs, all the staff, are specially trained in one facility," said Robert Garret, president
of medical center's foundation. "It's extraordinarily unique."
This new campaign comes on the heels of "Beyond Extraordinary", a three-year campaign
to open the John Theurer Cancer Center that began in 2008. This previous campaign was
led by author Mary Higgins Clark, who has long been a proponent of the medical
advances Hackensack's University Medical Center has made over the years. It's no
surprise, considering her daughter was treated for cancer in the hospital twice.
"She developed a real good love and friendship for this medical center and has since
become a member of the board of governors of the Medical Center," Torre said.
While Clark was the one of the driving forces behind the "Beyond Extraordinary"
campaign, the role of spearheading this new campaign has been passed to Charles
Osgood, a news anchor for "CBS News Sunday Morning." Osgood has been named the
national honorary chair of "A Beat Beyond."
Although Osgood has seen many hospitals during his career as a news anchor, he
expressed how impressed he was with the service at Hackensack's center.
"I was given a tour of this place and I was knocked out," he said. "This seemed so
different; the fact that it was so patient oriented. Everybody concerned, the people I met
along the way, they were all focused on making the environment as pleasant as
possible."
Although Osgood will take over the position of national honorary chair for the "A Beat
Beyond" campaign, it is a project that is still dear to Clark's heart.
"My husband died at age 45 of his third heart attack," said Clark. "He said 'if only I can
hang on, there will be an operation.' That was before any kind of bypass. There are
people today who are hanging on for the wonderful technology we are offering. There are
families who will continue to have a father, or a brother, or a husband. I think what you
are doing is offering the future."