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$10M gift will help USF medical center, athletics

The Carol and Frank Morsani Center for Advanced Health Care, a football practice complex and a women's softball stadium are planned.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published June 2, 2006

TAMPA - Frank and Carol Morsani's longtime support for the University of South Florida ballooned by $10-million Thursday, with the announcement of a donation that will help build a six-story patient care center, a football practice complex and a women's softball stadium.

"We just think you have to put a lot back," said Frank Morsani, a retired automobile dealer whose philanthropy is widely known in local and national circles. "We'd rather be doing this than anything we can think of."

Most of the money, $7-million that is eligible for matching state money, will go toward the Carol and Frank Morsani Center for Advanced Health Care.

Administrators envision the 194,400-square-foot medical facility as a national model for streamlined patient care.

By housing physicians, nursing students and medical students in one clinic with outpatient exam and surgery rooms, the medical staff will do within hours what usually takes days, said Stephen Klasko, dean of USF's medical school.

"Everybody complains: Why does it take nine days to get a mammogram back? Here, it will take three hours,'' Klasko said. "Instead of going to bed nine nights wondering if they're OK, they'll leave our facility knowing one way or another and feeling empowered about their treatment. This will change the DNA of health care."

The health care center, to open by December 2007, will feature 60 exam rooms, a pharmacy and an imaging center where patients can go for ultrasounds and MRIs. There will be four operating rooms and two endoscopy suites, with room to expand.

Through a patient outreach and education center, USF administrators hope to increase the number of residents getting tested for such ailments as prostate and breast cancer.

"We can tell a company, send your employees to us for half a day, and we will get them the care they need," Klasko said.

He said specialists in fields such as women's health and cardiology will be grouped together so that patients have access to them at once. As soon as patients are diagnosed, they will be directed to the education center, where staffers will try to better explain their condition and treatment plan, said Mohamad Kasti, chief operating officer for USF Health.

USF began planning the facility in 2001 and already has about $27-million in state money. The building will cost an estimated $64-million, said Mike Hoad, associate vice president for USF Health.

The Morsanis said they hope their gift inspires others to cover the rest of the tab.

"USF is trying to change the delivery system between doctors and nurses and patients," said Frank Morsani.

His name also will grace a new football practice complex, one of two athletic facilities to be built with $3-million of their donation. The rest will pay for a women's softball stadium.

Before Thursday, the Morsanis had given a total of $13-million to USF academic, research and athletic programs.

Thursday, university president Judy Genshaft beamed at the couple and thanked them for their "transformational gift."

"This gift is vintage Morsani," said local businessman and USF graduate Les Muma, a prominent donor and member of the USF Foundation board. "They are, by any definition you look up, true philanthropists."

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3403 or svansickler@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 2, 2006, 05:54:35]