Letter from the Chair

For nearly 30 years, I served as the
facilities vice president for Baylor Scott
& White Medical Center – Irving. How
gratifying it is for me, now as a volunteer for the fundraising foundation, to see how our current leaders are still expanding the hospital and its offerings to help people live well, which is our system’s vision. Moreover, it is doubly rewarding to me personally as chair of the foundation to see how gifts from donors make possible these wonderful facility and program expansions. Whether it’s funding the renovation of a new maternity floor to handle an overnight near-doubling of births lastyear or completely covering the costs of surgical equipment so that we can safely perform open-heart surgeries for the first time since 2017—philanthropy is helping make it happen. You can read about all of these in this issue of The Compass. My history with the hospital goes back to the late 1980s; I hope you’ll—like me— enjoy seeing the photos from the earliest days of planning and construction. Again, philanthropy came into play back then as the community went door-to-door asking neighbors to join in giving to build what remains today as Irving’s only donor supported, nonprofit hospital. That original collective gift of $350,000 from the residents of Irving has now turned into more than $76 million from donors throughout DFW since our foundation began in 1977—and all of those gifts have remained right here in our community to save lives and enhance health. If you’re reading this letter, you’re likely one of those donors—and I thank you.

Gratefully,

Walter ‘Skip’ Wilson
Chair, Board of Directors
Baylor Scott & White Irving Foundation