Created in 1996 to celebrate the hospital’s 90th anniversary, the foundation’s Leadership Wall was designed to honor the achievements of Overlook, as it grew from a small community hospital into a regional medical center. In addition to milestones reached during each decade, the wall lists those people who have been instrumental in Overlook’s development, including hospital and medical staff presidents, advisory and foundation board chairs, auxiliary leadership and, of course, the many donors who have supported a multitude of projects over the years.
Many of those distinguished donors were on hand to toast the rededication of the Leadership Wall at a recent dinner, which included heartfelt testimonials from Kathy Montag and David Leach who benefited from the cutting-edge technology and procedures available at Overlook. Kathy, a nurse in Atlantic’s Neuroscience Institute at Overlook, is part of a nationwide clinical trial for the DCVax-Brain vaccine, a type of immunotherapy designed to stimulate a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer. A successful record label executive, David has recovered from a life-threatening stroke thanks to the Merci Retrieval System™ which Overlook doctors used to remove a blood clot in his brain.
Carefully moved from its original location in the main lobby during recent renovations, the wall now occupies a corridor on the hospital’s fifth floor that runs parallel to the lobby. Before cutting the ribbon that would allow viewing by guests, Jack and Donna Walcott, who originally funded the wall’s construction, were presented with white lab coats embroidered with their names and honorary titles of “Doctor of Philanthropy.”