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James C. Styer The Healthcare Foundation of Highland Park is an independent charitable foundation that supports health care programs and services in the geographic area served by Highland Park Hospital, especially community-based organizations. We spoke a few months ago with its chairman, James C. Styer. 34 Deborah Spector Barry, Wordspecs Advertising Agency / Holiday 2008 PHOTO: Michael Metzger Photographer Jim, tell us about yourself and your family. I grew up in Hyde Park and went to high school there, then earned my BA in insurance at Michigan State. I’ve been in insurance for 48 years, the last 24 at Mesirow Financial. I am married to Merle Kirsner Styer, who’s been in residential real estate for almost 30 years in Highland Park. I moved here in 1972, our five girls went through District 107. Now I live in the Edgewood neighborhood. Our five girls are everywhere—Manhattan, New Jersey, Denver, Steamboat and Los Angeles. So, how did the Foundation come to be? The Foundation was established in 2000, as part of the merger of Highland Park Hospital with ENH. We did not want the community to feel that we sold the hospital to an organization that was so big that they would discount the community of Highland Park. Highland Park Hospital was built by the community, and we wanted to keep dollars in community health care. How was the Foundation funded? The Foundation is a community trust. ENH provided seed money along with funds from the old hospital foundation reserves. We opened with $100 million. What was different about the new Foundation? It was new in that it had two goals: One was to monitor ENH after the merger—they had made certain commitments to the community and to Highland Park Hospital to enhance the facilities and quality of healthcare. Over time, they spent in excess of $120 million on the hospital campus. The second commitment was to support healthcare anywhere in the hospital’s service area. How did you do, relative to those goals? I believe we have done very well. The original hospital funds had been raised within this community, and Highland Park received the greatest benefits. You no longer have to leave town for open heart surgery or cancer care. The new Ambulatory Care Center provides more capacity for same-day, 23-hour surgeries. Everyone has access to better
physicians—critical care physicians, teaching physicians—all on the Highland Park campus. Does the hospital’s recent affiliation with the University of Chicago impact the Foundation? No, we’re an independent entity. Fundraising by what is now the NorthShore University HealthSystem is completely separate from us. They raise funds for Evanston, Glenbrook and Highland Park Hospitals. We focus only in this area. So if an individual wanted to donate just to Highland Park Hospital…? You could earmark “for Highland Park Hospital” any gift to the NorthShore University HealthSystem Foundation. Or you can make a gift to the Auxiliary, which is fundraising specifically for the hospital. How does the Foundation determine how much it gives to the hospital? The Foundation was committed to give the hospital 8 percent of our earnings in our first year, 6 percent in the second and third, and thereafter 4 percent in perpetuity, about $4 million a year now. So the grants derive from investments? Yes, we have a very conservative board who has invested very wisely, in a way that allows us to continue, effectively, forever. We have given away in excess of $50,000,000. With four million a year for the Hospital, what’s left for the community? We are currently [as this goes to press] considering 30 grants for a total of $6.3 million. We have never turned down a grant because of a lack of funds, and there’s no set limit on yearly grants. Tell me about the grant process? The process is very simple. Really, all that’s required is a phone call, email or letter to me as chairman. I spend some time to get a sense of what the 501(c)(3) is about. Then, we send out our Requests for Proposals in September to everybody who has ever asked to apply, even if they might have been previously refused, plus new applicants. The subcommittee reviews the RFPs in October, and the entire board decides on them in December. � �� Does the hospital still has that “community hospital” feeling, given its regional affiliations? People do think their hometown hospital is gone—until they become a patient. Then, the obvious connection is there. The volunteers are people from within the community, and the entire staff is community-oriented. From my lay perspective, prior to the ENH merger of the hospital, I would get complaints to me at least once a week about things that were “wrong” with the hospital. In the last year, I’ve had only one complaint. And now more than ever I get compliments, especially about the emergency room and continuation of care. ENH spent more than $120 million on capital improvements. How did you come to the Foundation? Maybe 20 years ago, I was asked to serve on the old hospital foundation board, to raise money. I became chairman of the old foundation in 1996. Had you done fundraising in the past? Yes, for the Jewish United Fund (JUF), for Glenkirk, for the old Michael Reese Medical Research Center, among others. �� (continued on next page) �� Holiday 2008 / 35
Page 1 and 2: PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Highlan
Page 3 and 4: HIGHLAND PARK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE w
Page 5 and 6: On Our Cover …With a Generous Hel
Page 7 and 8: Index of Advertisers Ambiance Galle
Page 9 and 10: Outfit your family for winter fun W
Page 11 and 12: PHOTO: Nancy Wolff, the Bootery dep
Page 13 and 14: We Won’t Tell… …not your folk
Page 15 and 16: PHOTO: Music Institute of Chicago C
Page 17 and 18: all competitions. In May of 2008, t
Page 19 and 20: REDUCE GREENBACK EMISSIONS Romitti
Page 21 and 22: THINKING ABOUT BUILDING OR REMODELI
Page 23 and 24: 432-WASH Voted “North Shore’s B
Page 25 and 26: That most recent editionboasts 122
Page 27 and 28: A RIBHOUSE BAR & GRILL Dine In or C
Page 29 and 30: A Trip Down Memory Lane Bob was bor
Page 31 and 32: PHOTO: Daniel Kullman, Bitter Jeste
Page 33 and 34: Your visit to Bob’s Pantry & Deli
Page 35: Festive Days & Dazzling Nights Get
Page 39 and 40: we would be inundated with applicat
Page 41 and 42: PHOTO: Kendall Karmanian, Chicago M
Page 43 and 44: around $35. High-end lines priced $
Page 45 and 46: In September, Half Price Books open
Page 47 and 48: IS NOW Since 1891 WE’VE BEEN HERE

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