Brooks makes $16 million donation to First Coast YMCA
Gift is largest donation ever to First Coast YMCA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., - Brooks Rehabilitation has donated its 60,000 square foot Brooks Health and Fitness Center to the YMCA - one of the First Coast's largest community service organizations. The donation, worth over $16.5 million and the largest donation ever made to the First Coast YMCA, provides the basis for an exciting expansion of Brooks and YMCA programs and services throughout the community. Effective immediately, the facility will be renamed the "Brooks Family YMCA".
After 35 years as the region's only hospital-based rehabilitation provider, Brooks has expanded its scope of services to include prevention of disabling conditions to services for those with disabilities who have returned home. "In order to have the greatest impact on the health and wellness of the broader community, we determined that a gift to the YMCA with its existing network of 18 facilities and 65 program locations would best accomplish our goal," said Brooks president and CEO, Doug Baer. "We share a vision to make Jacksonville the healthiest city in the United States. This donation allows us to expand our vital programs such as Adaptive Sports, wellness, and injury prevention in multiple YMCA's."
Brooks and the YMCA will strive to build a coalition of local partners and healthcare providers to collaborate on an ambitious effort to improve the health of our community through healthy living and weight reduction programs. Brooks and the YMCA have a goal to serve more than 10,000 residents with clinically proven and outcome-based programs within three years, many of whom may not otherwise have access to wellness services.
The gift follows in the tracks of other major donations made by Brooks Rehabilitation. This fall Brooks reached a research agreement with the University of Florida and the College of Medicine-Jacksonville resulting in a $4 million donation to fund rehabilitation research at the Brooks Center for Rehabilitation Studies. In 2006, Brooks donated a total of $2.5 million to five area acute-care hospitals. And Brooks has donated $5.3 million to the UNF College of Health to advance the education of healthcare professionals in our region. In honor of this gift, it is now called the Brooks College of Health.
"We are so appreciative to Brooks for this tremendous gift, which will help us contribute to building strong kids, strong families and strong communities," said Paul McEntire, interim CEO of the YMCA of Florida's First Coast. "The YMCA's strengths are the people we bring together, the local community needs we meet, and the variety of ways we can make our community a healthier, safer better place to live - this gift helps us accomplish all of these goals in even bigger and better ways."
This gift will be leveraged by the YMCA for future fundraising. It also provides funds to expand healthy living, injury prevention, and Adaptive Sports programs throughout the First Coast YMCA and the broader community.
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About Brooks
Serving the community for more than 35 years, Brooks has a long-standing tradition of providing quality inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation care to Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. The 143-bed acute physical rehab hospital is unique in the region with a highly trained staff and an unmatched range of services. Brooks has an extensive network of more than 22 outpatient centers as well as a cutting-edge research facility which provide the best continuum of post-acute care possible to the communities served. As a non-profit health system, Brooks is deeply dedicated to meeting the needs and improving the health of the community. An example is the Brooks Adaptive Sports program, which offers training and competitive sports opportunities locally and nationally to athletes with physical disabilities. Currently, adaptive sports offered include basketball, rugby, hand cycling, tennis in partnership with the First Coast Tennis Foundation, and rowing in partnership with Jacksonville University. Brooks is more than rehabilitation. It's about being you again. More information on Brooks can be found at www.brooksrehab.org.
About the YMCA of the First Coast
The YMCA of Florida's First Coast has 18 facility locations and 65 different program locations. Collectively, YMCAs comprise the largest community service organizations in the U.S. and the largest providers of child care. YMCAs are for men, women and children of all faiths, races, ages, abilities and incomes. The YMCA of Florida's First Coast is a registered non-profit 501(c) 3 organization, and no one is turned away for their inability to pay. More information about the YMCA of Florida's First Coast can be found at www.firstcoastymca.org.