PROVIDENCE – Butler Hospital Foundation’s fundraiser, A Gallery Affair II, raised more than $88,000 to benefit research at the Providence Art Club Sept. 19.
More than 140 guests attended, with a VIP reception hosted prior to the event in the main gallery. Sponsors for the event included da Vinci Presenting Sponsor ChemArt; Premier Sponsor Cox Business; and Picasso Sponsors Alvarez & Marsal Healthcare Industry Group LLC, Hasbro, New England Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund, and Sodexo.
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Corporation Member of the Year Margaret D. “Peggy” Farrel was honored during the event, as were Barbara Goldner, Brian Goldner, Rhoda Perry and Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the R.I. Department of Health, who all received the Lila M. Sapinsley Community Service Award to recognize their collective effort to pass the Alexander Perry and Brandon Goldner Act.
Farrell’s involvement with Butler Hospital and Care New England goes back many years. She has served in a leadership capacity at both Butler and Women & Infants hospitals. She was a longtime Butler Hospital board member, Butler Hospital Foundation member, and continues as an active participant on the Medical Matters Committee. She has been a supporter of many significant campaigns at Butler Hospital, including gifts to the Geriatric Building Campaign, the Dr. Patricia Recupero Psychiatry Resident Fund for Excellence in Clinical Education, and the Aronson Chair for Neurodegenerative Disorders.
In addition to her leadership role at Butler Hospital, Peggy was instrumental in the formation of Care New England Health System and was one of CNE’s original board members. At the CNE level, she is a member of numerous committees, including Finance, Credentials, and Strategic Planning. She was also the recipient of the 2010 Providence Business News Business Women Career Achievement Award.
Barbara Goldner and Brian Goldner, chairman and CEO of Hasbro, lost their son Brandon to a drug overdose. Perry, a longtime member of the Rhode Island Senate, lost her son Alexander to a drug overdose as well.
Their personal tragedy with opioid addictions inspired the Goldners to use their story to bring attention to the need for standards in hospital emergency rooms, including comprehensive discharge planning, the dispensing of naloxone to patients at risk, screening of patients for substance abuse, and education on the proper storage and disposal of prescription medications. Partnering with the Department of Health and with the support of Perry, the team worked to pass the Alexander Perry and Brandon Goldner Act, a bill designed to improve the care received by substance abusers when they are seen in an emergency room. The Butler Foundation and the Care New England board voted to recognize these individuals for their work to establish emergency medicine standards related to addressing the opioid crisis that are the first of their kind in the United States.
Alexander-Scott co-chaired the Governor’s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force, the group responsible for developing the standards. Their collective mission is to bring awareness to the issue of opioid addiction and improve the care that substance abusers receive in the health care system.
The event co-chairs, Andrew Pelletier and John Sinnott, were supported by a volunteer planning committee and members of Butler’s board of directors. In addition to helping to secure the sponsorships, the team raised more than $4,000 through a silent auction of donated items, including trips, artwork and specialty items.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
