Commentary: Hoag campaign pledge to empower, innovate

For more than six decades, Hoag has fulfilled its promise to the community.

Since our inception, we have vowed to provide the best in health care, enrich the lives of those we serve, and to do so with excellence.

In committing to excellence, we also strive to achieve more — to continue to lead, innovate and transform.

We commit to bigger promises, with a wider reach and a greater community impact.

On Sept. 26, Hoag Hospital Foundation committed to its greatest promise in our 63-year history — a $627 million comprehensive campaign to improve health care in Orange County.

“The Hoag Promise, Our Campaign to Lead, Innovate and Transform” will touch every institute, center and specialty area of Hoag.

This campaign is the first of its kind in the Foundation’s history, and it will emphatically affirm Hoag’s role as a leader in the community and expand compassionate health care options in Orange County.

Already we have $328 million in gifts that have enhanced our programs, modernized facilities and strengthened medical research programs.

These gifts are key to providing the latest advances in Hoag’s renowned programs in cancer, diabetes, neurosurgery, heart services and women’s services.

We promise to continue to be pioneers, eager to take advantage of the best that medical science has to offer.

Our regional Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) program is a shining illustration of how the Hoag Foundation, in partnership with the community, keeps Hoag Hospital leading-edge.

Patients who would have never before been able to get a new aortic valve because they were too high-risk to undergo surgery, are getting their lives back.

We promise to empower our patients, and give those we serve the best tools, information and education to keep them connected and involved.

Orange County’s first Telemedicine Program in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a prime example of keeping patients engaged.

This program features a series of cameras in the NICU to allow family members to see their premature babies in real time, giving parents peace of mind.

And we promise to continue delivering extraordinary leaders.

Hoag attracts the best of the best and we have challenged them to strategically plan for what skills they can master over the next decade that will revolutionize health care in Orange County.

These are just some of our big ideas, and there is more on the horizon.

The way health care services are being provided and funded in Orange County is evolving. It is a true partnership between those who provide care and the people we serve.

Now, more than ever, Hoag relies on the visionaries in our community to help us maintain our services and programs at the outstanding and innovative levels they’ve come to expect from us.

It is what sets us apart, and it is what inspires the community to choose Hoag.

FLYNN A. ANDRIZZI is president of the Hoag Hospital Foundation and senior vice president of Hoag.