BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY CLARE MARIE CELANO A donation from Robert and Donna O’Donnell of Millstone Township to CentraState Medical Center will help to fund the construction of an ambulatory care campus. FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The largest donation ever received by CentraState Medical Center will be used to help expand the facility’s West Main Street campus.
During a Dec. 14 ceremony at which they accepted a $1.5 million gift from Robert and Donna O’Donnell of Millstone Township, hospital executives said the money will go toward the planned expansion of the medical center. Plans were unveiled to build a 170,000-square-foot ambulatory care campus just west of the hospital.
In addition, as a means of recognizing the O’Donnells for their act of charity, the hospital has renamed its Medical Arts Building the Donna O’Donnell, RN, Medical Arts Building. O’Donnell, 57, practiced for many years as a registered nurse.
According to John T. Gribbin, president and CEO of CentraState Health-care System, the O’Donnells’ donation is the largest gift in the 34-year history of the hospital.
CentraState Medical Center’s Medical Arts Building has been renamed the Donna O’Donnell, RN, Medical Arts Building. “There’s been a lot of buzzing around the hospital in the last few weeks about this gift,” Gribbin said as he confirmed the donation.
The rededication ceremony of the 3-year-old Medical Arts Building was attended by more than 100 guests including administrators, nurses, physicians and support staff.
According to Gribbin, the Donna O’Donnell, RN, Medical Arts Building is the second hospital building in New Jersey to be named for a nurse, which he said is “appropriate in this day and age.” The other hospital building to be named for a nurse is the Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, Essex County.
Vincent Maltese, immediate past chair of the CentraState Healthcare System Board of Trustees, said the O’Donnells’ donation will be the first of many funds to be applied to the new ambulatory care campus, which is on the drawing board.
Administrators said the CentraState Health Awareness Center, which is presently housed in a building on Gibson Place about 1 mile from the hospital, will move to the new ambulatory care campus. The facilities will also include a medical fitness club, three swimming pools, physical therapy and cardiac rehabilitation areas. The new complex will focus on prevention, fitness and diagnostics.
As a means of comparison, Maltese said the ambulatory care campus will be three times the size of the Medical Arts Building.
Maltese then introduced Robert O’Donnell, 59, who he said has enjoyed a successful 30-year career in banking and finance, most recently as president and CEO of the Community Bank of New Jersey, Freehold Township.
Community Bank operated for several years in western Monmouth County before merging with Sun National Bank.
O’Donnell is a guest lecturer at Wharton Graduate School, a director of the New Jersey Bankers Association and chair of the association’s Commun-ity Bankers Committee, according to Maltese.
In a touching speech, O’Donnell admitted to being a bit nervous. He thanked everyone for attending and then spoke about advice that had been given to him by his French Canadian grandmother. O’Donnell said she told him, “When you give, you get back tenfold. Give as much as you can.”
And he has.
“When we came to this community 11 years ago we adopted it as our own,” O’Donnell said, adding that he hopes other people will be motivated to support the hospital.
“You have humbled us with your recognition here today,” O’Donnell said softly.
He said he was glad to be able to share his “bounty,” since he and his family were so blessed.
O’Donnell was elected to the Centra-State Medical Center Board of Trustees in 2001. He serves as vice chair of the board and chairs the Finance Commit-tee, Investment Committee and Apple-wood Estates Lifecare Retirement Com-munity.
He said he was amazed at the evolution of the once small hospital that has become what he said is considered one of the “jewels” in the Garden State.
“This is a tremendous hospital,” he said.
He then lovingly spoke about Donna, his wife of 37 years, whom he called his “bride.” He said she has always been his “biggest cheerleader” and added that his love for her and for her profession led him to this point.
“She taught me how to give,” O’Donnell revealed.
Donna told the guests, “you touch my heart just as nursing has always touched my heart.”
The registered nurse is a graduate of the Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center School of Nursing and Union County College in Plainfield. She has worked in several fields of nursing including cardiac care, intensive care and emergency medicine. She spent two years with the Visiting Nurse Assoc-iation of Central New Jersey, which she left in 1998.
Donna cited the importance of having time to give to people and said it had given her tremendous satisfaction over the years to do so.
“This is now a time for laughter, for celebrating,” she said.
In an emotional moment, she addressed her husband and asked him to remember some of the special times they had shared in their early years together — times that included reading poetry to each other and watching “The Sound of Music.”
She asked him to remember how they memorized “How Do I Love Thee,” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
“Let me count the ways,” she said softly, then added with a smile, “since then I’ve thought of other ways.”
She then professed her love for him and her thanks for honoring her, as well as her profession.
In a later conversation, Donna said the naming of the building for her was a surprise until a short time ago.
The couple’s sons, Brendan, 32, and Rogan, 35, were present at the ceremony. Rogan, whose wife, Suzanne, was at his side, said his parents taught their sons about the true values in life such as commitment and what it means to love.
“They taught us how to love,” he said, adding, “not just to love our family, but to love others as well.”
Later, Robert O’Donnell said he was the oldest child in his family of seven brothers and four sisters. O’Donnell said he was always told by his father that he was to be the “example” to his younger siblings.
Obviously, he has taken that assignment to heart.