With its dramatic design and light-filled interior, the new hospital at Zuckerberg San Francisco General (ZSFG) features state-of-the-art equipment and new furnishings, thanks to the generosity of donors to the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation’s Heart of Our City Capital Campaign.
Philanthropic support has enabled us to equip the new hospital with the same or better caliber of medical equipment than is available at other hospitals in San Francisco. We are grateful for the community’s investment in the well-being of our patients. Susan P. Ehrlich, MD, MPP, Chief Executive Officer of ZSFG
In 2008, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly passed Prop A to build the new hospital; however, public bond funds could not be used to purchase the critical medical equipment and furnishings needed inside the building.
More than 2,000 individuals, corporations, and foundationscontributed to equip the hospital. This unprecedented campaign exceeded its goal, raising more than $141 million.
In February 2015, the Foundation announced a historic grant of $75 million from Priscilla Chan, MD and Mark Zuckerberg. This grant, along with the support of other generous donors, provided critical state-of-the-art equipment, technology, and furnishings for the new building.
Donors to the Heart of Our City Capital Campaign have made a tremendous impact in ensuring that all San Franciscans have access to advanced medical equipment that saves lives. We are profoundly grateful to every donor, large and small, who played a part in this effort. AmandaHeier, CEO of the Foundation.
“The new hospital provides an environment that allows staff to provide the best possible care to patients,” said Jim Marks, MD, Ph.D., Chief of the Medical Staff at ZSFG, “Thanks to philanthropic support, we are able to provide patients with access to advanced equipment to diagnose and treat conditions, that we otherwise would not have had access to. Patients are reporting a greater ability to rest and heal thanks to the calm and peaceful surroundings of the new hospital, and staff are grateful for an environment and equipment that reflects the quality of care they provide.”
A notable advancement in the hospital is the Hybrid Operating Room (OR), which revolutionizes patient care by allowing clinicians to provide stabilizing, diagnostic, and surgical care all in one room without the need to transport the most critically ill patients to the radiology department in the middle of a procedure.
The hospital also installed a high-strength magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine adjacent to the Neurological Interventional Radiology Area to create a Hybrid MRI Suite. Like the Hybrid OR, this Hybrid MRI Suite will improve patient care by eliminating the need to transport a patient mid-procedure, for example, in the case of neurological trauma such as a traumatic brain injury.
As the only Trauma Center (Level 1) serving San Francisco and northern San Mateo counties, the Hybrid OR and HybridMRI are crucial improvements for Zuckerberg San Francisco General.
Adding to these advanced capabilities, donations from the campaign have also supported the purchase of furnishings and equipment that the hospital uses on a daily basis, including “smart” patient beds, IT systems, X-ray and CT scanners, and much more.
In addition, the grant from Chan and Zuckerberg will enable the Foundation to provide ongoing support to the hospital and to the more than 100,000 patients it serves each year. The grant also supports a public outreach campaign to increase awareness of the role the hospital plays in public health throughout San Francisco.
As this new era for the hospital begins, the Foundation continues to seek philanthropic support for the critical work occurring at the hospital, including continuous patient care improvements, innovative research, and extensive community programming.
“The generous support of our donors has been critical to our ability to support the hospital,” said Heier. “Staff at the hospital are working every day to find new ways to provide optimal care. Donor support will remain crucial to enable this important work. We are excited for the future and for the continued partnership with all of our donors to advance public health in San Francisco.”