The Villages Regional Hospital Auxiliary Foundation has embarked on a major fundraising effort on behalf of the $59 million expansion at The Villages Regional Hospital.
“We can all play a part in making the hospital the best it can be,” said Thom Fross of Fross & Fross during a presentation on the hospital expansion Thursday. In addition to serving on the hospital auxiliary foundation board, Fross noted he recently became a Villager, buying a home at Lakeshore Cottages at Lake Sumter Landing.
And part of the fundraising effort includes debunking myths about the hospital, said auxiliary volunteer Carol Hughes of the Village of Country Club Hills.
One of the myths is that The Villages Regional Hospital is “Villages Only.”
The fact is TVRH serves individuals from The Villages, Lady Lake, Spruce Creek, Del Webb, Ocala, Leesburg, Wildwood, Summerfield, Belleview and Oxford.
“No one is turned away because they don’t have insurance,” she added.
Another myth is that the hospital is owned by the developer of The Villages, Hughes said in her presentation on the topic to Fross & Fross clients at the Ocala Country Club.
“Again, not true,” she said, explaining that the hospital is a not-for-profit entity.
“This is our hospital,” Hughes said.
She said a major goal is to expand hospital capacity. As the population in and around The Villages has grown rapidly, the hospital has not kept pace.
That has led to frustration in areas like the Emergency Room which at times has been overwhelmed.
The expansion will ease those problems, Hughes said.
A major parking expansion is in the works, too. Employees will park in a huge new lot behind Lowe’s and be bused over.
“That will leave more parking up close for patients and families,” Hughes said.
To learn more about the fund-raising effort, you can call the The Villages Regional Hospital Auxiliary Foundation office at 751-8871 or email them at [email protected]