By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
Princeton philanthropists William and Judy Scheide have launched an endowment for University Medical Center at Princeton in honor of former Princeton Township Mayor Jim Floyd and his wife Fannie.
The fund, which is already in use, is dedicated to supporting the work of the medical center’s Outpatient Clinic in providing health care to the uninsured and underinsured of the community, said Joe Stampe, vice president of development for Princeton HealthCare System, the parent of University Medical Center at Princeton.
The acute-care hospital, which is located on nine acres in Princeton, will be relocating to a 50-acre site in Plainsboro, with the new hospital anticipated to open in the summer 2011, Mr. Stampe said.
The community clinic’s name will change from the Outpatient Clinic to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Community Health Center once the new hospital opens because of a $6 million grant from the pharmaceutical company.
The clinic provides primary and preventive care for adults and children, care of chronic and acute medical conditions, obstetrics and a variety of specialty care services. Also available are health education, nutrition and social services. Patients served in the clinic are uninsured and under-insured residents of New Jersey. The clinic’s volume has grown 90 percent in the past 10 years with visits expected to top 19,000 this year.
The Scheides have asked the hospital not to disclose the amount of their donation, said Mr. Stampe and Marion McParland, a spokeswoman for Princeton HealthCare System.
”Jim and Fannie Floyd have been at the very heart of the Princeton community and an inspiration to its members for half a century,” Mr. Scheide said in statement. “I am delighted to make this gift to the University Medical Center at Princeton Outpatient Clinic in the name of my dear friends as a way of honoring their long and dedicated service to our community.”
In addition to working in municipal government, Mr. Floyd has worked in both the public and private sectors of the corporate world, nonprofit organizations and church leadership.
Among his various positions, Mr. Floyd joined Educational Testing Services as vice president of human resources. He was the first black elected to the Princeton Township Committee and to hold the position of mayor of Princeton Township.
Ms. Floyd, a graduate of Virginia Sate University, is a member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and has served on the boards of Princeton YWCA, Princeton Nursery School and Witherspoon Jackson Corp. She has served as an elder and deacon of Witherspoon Presbyterian Church and is a member of Church Women United – Presbyterian USA.
”We have been very pleased and encouraged by the very generous gift of Bill and Judy Scheide to the UMCP Outpatient Clinic,” stated Dr. Margaret Lancefield, the University Medical Center at Princeton outpatient director. “It will be used to underwrite special and costly care, on a case by case basis, such as cancer medications or complex rehabilitative needs, for the medically underserved in our community — care that would not otherwise be available. For many of these patients, the Outpatient Clinic is the principal, if not only, source of health care. As such it is a wonderful tribute to Jim and Fannie Floyd who have championed the needs of this community for 50 years.”
The Institute for Advanced Study, the Trenton-based community development and environmental organization Isles Inc., Princeton University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Choir College, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union are among the recipients of gifts from the Scheides.
