Columbia Memorial | Health Compass | Fall 2018

“ “ >> foundation Grateful voices I was treated at the OHSU oncology unit in Coos Bay for approximately four years. Your staff in Astoria show the same caring professionalism as I had experienced in Coos Bay. We recently purchased a home in Warrenton and your facility location was the reason for our relocation. Your center is my ‘rock’ during the most dark and dangerous storm that I have ever had to endure in my lifetime. You all have shown me professionalism at its finest during my treatments and have gone the extra mile in providing a hotel while going through chemo and radiation therapy. As of now, I do feel that I owe my life to your compas- sionate and specialized skills to fight against a cancer that I have fallen victim to. I will tell others of your professional skills to treat cancer in the highest regards to cure cancer. —Thankful Patient from Warrenton A gift of hope About a year ago, our region received a powerful gift. Also about a year ago, the CMH–OHSU Knight Cancer Collaborative opened its doors to those seeking healing, health and, yes, hope. The communitywide campaign raised $3 million to help open those doors and now many are joining their friends in creating a future of hope as well. Individual legacies through planned gifts will create future endowments that ensure the future of care in our region. The CMH Auxiliary has launched the initiative with a $1 million endowment gift. Half of this gift is achieved through a $500,000 life insurance policy. The Auxiliary has structured the second $500,000 as a challenge to other legacy donors. For every $10 in future binding gifts, the Auxiliary will gift $1—up to $500,000! While the Auxiliary’s gift is unrestricted, they wish their funds to be spent where it will have the greatest impact in the future—they enthusiastically encourage gifts to endow the Cancer Collaborative, as well as hospice and emergency care. “A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.” —Ethan Trueblood + Penny Cowden, Executive Director of the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation THE CMH FOUNDATION is currently working with many donors, like you, who want to leave a legacy to express their values beyond their lifetimes. Many of the ways to do so are tax- friendly, easy to do and ensure that your family is taken care of. Email pcowden@columbiamemorial.org or call 503-325-3208 for your free estate planning starter guide! How you can help There are many ways to make a charitable gift using assets rather than stock or cash. Insurance policies you no longer need, charitable gift annuities that provide lifetime payments, IRA rollover gifts that avoid high income taxes on distributions, and gifts of real estate are just a few of the assets you can leverage to insure your values live beyond you and even beyond the next generation. Fifty years ago, there were no thoughts or even dreams of having our very own cancer center. What will the next 50 years hold? None of us can know. What we do know is that your gift to the future of health today will ensure that CMH will be here to care for those you care about. 6 HEALTH COMPASS FALL 2018