NIH Opens Safra Family Lodge
New facility creates home away from home for patient families
Bethesda, Maryland The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
celebrates the opening of the Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge on Thursday,
May 26, at 2 p.m. This new addition offers a temporary residence
for families and loved ones of adult patients who are receiving
care at the NIH Clinical Center, the nation’s premier hospital
for conducting clinical research research involving patients.
The Lodge opens its doors to guests on Wednesday, June 1.
“We recognize that patients and their families go the extra
mile to participate in research studies. The Safra Family Lodge
goes a long way to make their stay here feel more like home,” said
NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. “We hope that this place
of kindness will do for adults and their families what the Children's
Inn has done for our pediatric population.”
Patients from every state in the U.S. and from around the world
visit NIH to participate as partners in medical discovery. In the
more than 50 years since the Clinical Center’s opening in
1953, NIH has worked with more than 350,000 participants in clinical
studies, designed to further knowledge of new treatments for disease.
Together, scientists, clinicians, and patients have discovered
major advances at the Clinical Center, including the first cure
of a solid tumor with chemotherapy; first chemotherapy treatment
for childhood leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease; first use of
nitroglycerin for acute myocardial infarction; first successful
replacement of a mitral valve; and the first use of AZT to treat
AIDS, among many others.
“Patients volunteer as partners in research here at the
NIH Clinical Center because they recognize how important their
participation is to better treatments and therapies for the future," said
NIH Clinical Center Director John I. Gallin, M.D. “The Safra
Family Lodge will help keep families together through what is often
an extremely stressful time of illness, and our patients deserve
that kind of support.”
Built in the style of an English Arts and Crafts manor, the Safra
Family Lodge provides a home-like retreat by offering space for
solitude, family meetings, and supportive fellowship. Located steps
away from the NIH Clinical Center, the Lodge features 34 guest
rooms, a library, business and telecommuting center, fitness center,
home-style kitchen, and comfortable social and sitting areas. The
surrounding gardens include a patio, walking paths, and seating
areas. There will be no charge for patient families to stay at
the Safra Lodge.
The project, from design conception to completion, has taken more
than six years. Construction of the Safra Lodge was made possible
through a public-private partnership. The Foundation for NIH, a
private non-profit organization, received contributions to fund
most of the facility’s construction. The foundation received
nearly $5 million from Mrs. Lily Safra and The Edmond J. Safra
Philanthropic Foundation, as well as significant contributions
from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, the Merck Company Foundation,
and GlaxoSmithKline. Many other generous individuals, corporations,
and foundations also helped make the Safra Family Lodge a reality.
“These benefactors are leaders and examples to us all,” said
Charles A. Sanders, M.D., chairman of the Foundation for NIH. “The
more we can spotlight such enlightened generosity, the more others
may be inspired to be involved in new programs which support the
NIH research mission the cure of disease and preservation
of human health.”
The Safra Lodge was designed by Amy Weinstein, FAIA, Weinstein
Associates Architects. Madison Cox, Madison Cox Design Incorporated,
created the Claudio and Evelyne Cohen Garden, while Inez Austin,
Design Innerphase, designed the interior.
Senior officials and special guests will attend the opening event,
including the Honorable Paul Rogers, who served in Congress for
24 years, and Mrs. Lily Safra, chairman of The Edmond J. Safra
Philanthropic Foundation. Barbara Harrison, of WRC-NBC4, will serve
as the master of ceremonies.
High-resolution photos of the Safra Lodge are available at: http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/familylodge/.
The Office of the Director (OD) is the central office of the NIH
and is responsible for setting NIH policy and for planning, managing
and coordinating the programs and activities of all the NIH components
including 27 Institutes and Centers. NIH, a component of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal
agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational
medical research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and
cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information,
visit www.nih.gov.
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health was established
by the United States Congress to support the mission of the National
Institutes of Health. The foundation identifies and develops opportunities
for innovative public-private partnerships involving industry,
academia, and the philanthropic community. A non-profit, 501(c)(3)
corporation, the Foundation raises private-sector funds for a broad
portfolio of unique programs that complement and enhance NIH priorities
and activities. For more information, visit www.fnih.org. |