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Two Faiths Join Together to Help Bring Health and Hope Back to New Orleans

Touro Infirmary and Catholic Health East Form Partnership to Assist Crescent City Residents

For Immediate Release
November 21, 2005

Touro Infirmary, the only not-for- profit, faith based, full service community hospital in New Orleans, has announced that Catholic Health East (CHE), one of the nation's largest healthcare systems, will present the hospital with a $500,000 grant at a ceremony to be held on November 29, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. CT. The grant provided by CHE will be used to augment Touro Infirmary's services to the community, particularly with programs for the poor.

The ceremony will take place in the hospital's cafeteria and will include a check presentation and remarks from Les Hirsch, President and CEO of Touro Infirmary, and Bob Stanek, President and CEO of Catholic Health East.

"Through Catholic Health East's affiliation with Touro, we are creating a unique opportunity for two faith traditions with the same mission to work together to help the residents of New Orleans after one of the greatest natural disasters our country has seen," said Les Hirsch. "We are excited to work with Catholic Health East and are grateful that they were able to reach out to us in our time of need."

CHE chose to assist Touro Infirmary based on its vital need to serve the community. "We feel that this partnership will help to expand our thinking about what it means to be a faith based hospital in the City of New Orleans and how we consider spirituality as a part of the patient care process at Touro," explained Hirsch.

"Many of our colleagues and institutions made generous contributions to the hurricane relief efforts, but we wanted to do more. We are delighted to provide Touro and the New Orleans community with this grant, especially in time for the holidays," said Bob Stanek. "We feel that our values are a perfect match with Touro's mission and goals."

In addition to awarding the grant to help the poor and those in need, CHE is planning to dispatch volunteer caregivers to New Orleans and help Touro Infirmary meet the healthcare needs of residents as the city returns to life.

"Catholic Health East will continue to provide assistance to Touro in caring for the community and in helping to renew a sense of spirituality and hope throughout the region," said Stanek. "We look forward to working with Touro Infirmary to restore health and hope to the residents of New Orleans."

About Touro Infirmary

Touro Infirmary is a not-for-profit, community-based hospital, located in New Orleans, LA. The institution is guided by the principles of Judaism and is dedicated to the health status and well-being of the diverse people it serves. Touro Infirmary subsidiaries include Woldenberg Village, Crescent City Physicians and Metro Lab. The hospital is a full service healthcare facility. In 1923, Touro was one of only fifteen hospitals in the country approved to use insulin to treat diabetes and was also one of the first hospitals in the United States to have a physical therapy department. Today, Touro Rehabilitation Center is one of the premier rehabilitation centers in the country. Touro was also recognized as one of America's Best Hospitals by U.S. News and World Report.

Touro Infirmary is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation's oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency. The hospital has academic affiliations with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and Tulane University Health Science Center. To learn more about Touro Infirmary, visit www.touro.com.

About Catholic Health East

Catholic Health East is a multi-institutional Catholic health system, co-sponsored by 15 religious congregations and Hope Ministries, a Public Juridic Person within Catholic Health East. Based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, the System provides the means to ensure the continuation of the Catholic identity and operational strength of the sponsors' health ministries, which are located within eleven eastern states from Maine to Florida.

The System includes 31 acute care hospitals, 3 long term acute care hospitals, 45 freestanding and hospital-based long term care facilities, 12 assisted living facilities, 5 continuing care retirement communities, 7 behavioral health and rehabilitation facilities, 19 home health and hospice agencies, and numerous ambulatory and community-based health services. Catholic Health East facilities employ approximately 43,000 full-time employees as partners in ministry.

Photos:

Top: CHE donated $500,000 to help Touro provide care for the poor and underserved of the region. Among those participating in the check presentation were (from left to right) Paul Barron, a member of Touro's Board of Directors; Les Hirsch, Touro President and CEO; Robert Stanek, CHE President and CEO; Earle Bradford, Jr., Chairman, CHE Board of Directors; Sr. Christine McCann, RSM, CHE Sponsors Council Coordinator; Sr. Julie Casey, IHM, CHE's Executive Vice President of Mission Integration, and Eileen Skinner, President and CEO of Mercy Health System of Maine.

Bottom, left: Les Hirsch (left), President and CEO of Touro Infirmary, welcomes Robert Stanek, President and CEO of Catholic Health East

Bottom, center: Part of CHE's commitment to Touro is to send volunteer caregivers to help staff the hospital; the first three CHE nurses to "answer the call" (talking with Robert Stanek, CHE president and CEO) are, from left to right, Pam Gallus, RN from Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center (Camden, NJ); Kittie Moyer, RN from Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital (Darby, PA) and Keith Beck, RN from Mercy Health System of Maine (Portland, ME).

Bottom, right: CHE visitors about to tour Touro Infirmary include (from left to right) Sr. Christine McCann, RSM, CHE Sponsors Council Coordinator; Robert Stanek, CHE President and CEO; Sr. Julie Casey, IHM, CHE's Executive Vice President of Mission Integration, Earle Bradford, Jr., Chairman, CHE Board of Directors; and Scott Share, CHE's Vice President of System Communications.

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