Rx Society Dedicated to Raising the Bar in Healthcare:

New Members Now Invited

The Roper St. Francis Foundation, the fundraising arm of Roper St. Francis Healthcare, invites individuals and organizations to join its 2006 Roper Xavier or “Rx” Society.

Established in 2005, the founding members of this annual giving society raised more than $3.5 million in its first year to support and enhance healthcare programs and services offered to the community through Roper St. Francis Healthcare.

Those who join by December 31 will be invited to attend an exclusive donor appreciation gala with featured guest speaker General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) to be held January 5, 2007 at The Charleston Place hotel.  Limited seating is available.  

“I believe in the Rx Society and know first-hand how patients do benefit,” says Sandra Fennell, an Rx Society member and former patient.  “The Rx Society is making a tremendous contribution to the quality of healthcare available in our community, from funding the latest medical technology to providing first rate amenities and support for patients and their families,” adds Fennell.

In 2005, the Society’s primary focus was the new Heart & Vascular Tower at Roper Hospital’s downtown campus.  Through the generosity of Rx Society members, the Foundation funded more than $1.1 million in enhancements to the Tower including the surgical pavilion named for Julian T. Buxton Jr., M.D., construction of an endovascular laboratory, upgrades to the cardiovascular operating room, and specialized equipment for the electrophysiology lab and the picture archive and communication system known as PACS.

Rx Society members in 2005 also provided seed money necessary to begin design and construction of a Meditation Garden to be located under the oaks at the West Ashley campus of Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital.  A groundbreaking ceremony is slated for Spring 2007.

In 2006, the Rx Society will extend its efforts to include the Roper St. Francis Cancer Center.  Funds raised will help support a new Breast Care Center to open at Roper Hospital this October, and a new outpatient cancer center to begin construction on the St. Francis campus next year.

Rx Society members in 2006 will also lend funding support to the renovation of inpatient oncology rooms and the outpatient infusion center at Roper Hospital as well as the addition of CyberKnife.  This technology combines advances in medicine and computerized robotics to offer new hope for cancer patients. Roper St. Francis is one of only 74 medical centers in the world and the only one in South Carolina to offer this new non-surgical treatment option.

For more information or to join the Rx Society, please contact the Roper St. Francis Foundation at 843-720-1205.

Foundation representatives are also available to speak to interested civic and professional groups.