Fifteen years ago, Art Pepin returned to Tampa from the Texas Heart Institute with a renewed sense of life.
A new heart does that to people. But the institute also implanted a dream in Pepin: a vision of people here getting the kind of treatment he received.
So Pepin set out to create a heart institute in Tampa. He donated $1-million to University Community Hospital, and the Pepin Heart and Vascular Institute opened in 1991.
That was only the beginning. Pepin died in 2002, but his son Tom stepped before a crowd of more than 700 at the Raymond James Stadium club lounge on Thursday and proudly boasted that a better heart institute was 478 days away.
"This goes beyond my father's dreams by a quantum leap," Pepin said.
Pepin had gathered well-wishers to generate support for the new Pepin Heart Hospital, slated to open May 1, 2005. The $40-million facility adjacent to UCH on Fletcher Avenue will be one of the top heart treatment and research facilities in the Southeast, and that assertion is backed by the fact that it will be one of only five hospitals in the nation that General Electric will use as a showcase.
GE's medical and information systems will make the hospital totally digital. Medical records will be instantly available online, allowing physicians to make faster and more informed decisions. Computer access will be at every bedside, and eventually doctors will use hand-held technology to analyze cases and compare them with others around the world.
It's an ambitious project, but the center's capital campaign appears to have the kind of backing needed to succeed. Before Pepin's speech, there was a video presentation featuring Gov. Jeb Bush and Gen. Tommy Franks. And Outback Steakhouse chief executive officer Chris Sullivan was among the supporters. Plus, Pepin has the inspiration of his father.
More than once Thursday, Pepin and other officials said they want the new hospital to become the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center of heart care.
The words serve as a tribute, but I often wonder whether people realize the greatness of the renowned cancer center. Sure, they know it's there, but do they realize that in a stunningly short time, it has become one of the top 11 cancer facilities in the nation?
After touring Moffitt's newest facilities, the Stabile Research Center and Moffitt Clinic, I get the feeling a lot of residents are like neighbors of Picasso who had no idea of his artistic greatness.
Consider this: When founder H. Lee Moffitt sees executives such as deputy director of research Jack Pledger, he says, "Did we find a cure for cancer today?" And he's serious.
More amazing? When Pledger says,"Not yet," he's even more serious.
Imagine. Your job is to find a cure for cancer, a goal we readily associate with the unattainable. More daunting than climbing Mount Everest, it's a task that would make some researchers dejected and frustrated. Others easily could get caught up in chasing grant money and fretting about support.
Yet Moffitt researchers and staff members remain upbeat.
I ran across Dr. Timothy Yeatman, a principal researcher, during my visit. Or should I say he ran across me. Hurrying out of an elevator, he had paperwork in one hand, a sandwich in the other and a soda under his arm. Clearly, he was busy, but he also was wearing a smile.
It's not uncommon to find those smiles in the center, even at 3 in the morning. The new clinic fosters a team effort.
The clinic is designed to keep patients' needs paramount. And they're expecting more than 200,000 outpatient visits this year. With affiliations throughout the state, Moffitt expects to play a role in the treatment of 25 percent of Florida patients.
In the clinic waiting room was a jigsaw puzzle, an appropriate symbol, because the cure for cancer will be pieced together by many. But when the picture is complete, the fingerprints of Moffitt researchers will be on at least some of those pieces.
