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Foundation for the NIH Board of Directors Chairman Dr. Charles Sanders (left) and Clinical Center Director Dr. John Gallin (right) with Mrs. Lily Safra at the Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge name dedication ceremony in the Senate Caucus Room at the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.
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Through the efforts of many, the Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge will become a reality in 2004. The Lodge will provide a comfortable home-away-from-home for the families and caretakers of Clinical Center patients.
In April 2002 a ceremony marking the naming of the facility as the Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge was held at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. The Foundation for the NIH formally accepted a $3 million donation from the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. At the mid-day ceremony in the Senate Caucus Room, Lily Safra, wife of the late Edmond Safra, related that the Lodge reflects “the spirit and values” of her late husband.
In addition to the Safra Foundation, other generous contributors including the Merck Company Foundation, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, and many other corporations, foundations and individuals, provided the funds required to construct the Lodge.
On October 29, 2002 a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Lodge at the facility’s future location near the corner of Center and Convent Drives on the NIH main campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The ceremony formally signaled the project’s start. Susan Lowell Butler, an NIH patient and member of the Clinical Center’s Patient Advisory Group, spoke poignantly of the caregiver’s burden in the context of her own husband in that role for her. “I heard him say, ‘In seven months, no one ever spoke to me without starting with the question “How’s Susan?’” That’s what the caregiver role really feels like. It is loneliness, isolation and fear. And anything (like the Family Lodge) that helps ease the caregiver’s suffering and distress is quite a miracle.”
Designed in the unique style of an early 1900s English Manor House and located steps away from the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, the Safra Lodge offers a retreat to the families and caregivers who will make it their temporary home. Guests at the Lodge can know that their loved one is close by if they are needed but at the same time, experience periods of relaxation and rejuvenation away from the hospital setting.
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Susan Lowell Butler, member, Patient Advisory Group, Clinical Center, shares her thoughts on being an NIH patient, the value of caregivers and the “miracle of the family lodge.”
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The residence will provide a comfortable and nurturing environment with a variety of private rooms and public spaces, allowing guests time for quiet retreat or the fellowship of others who are experiencing similar challenges. The spacious first floor features a reception area, telecommuting center, living room with fireplace, dining room, library, family kitchen, dining and playroom, exercise room, and two guest rooms. The second and third floors each include 16 guest rooms, most of which will accommodate up to four family members. In addition, each guest floor has full laundry facilities. The gardens surrounding the Safra Lodge will offer quiet walking paths and serene seating areas. A large patio will also provide outdoor living space.
Construction is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2003 and will last approximately 14-to-16 months. Opening of the Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge is projected for the summer of 2004.
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