BMC Receives $15 million from Shapiro Family Foundation

A new 245,000-square-foot ambulatory care center is in the works for Boston Medical Center, thanks to a $15 million gift from the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation. The donation was announced on Wednesday, June 4.

The facility, which will be named the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Ambulatory Care Center, is part of a new capital expansion project at the hospital called Building the New BMC. The multiyear project will create approximately 500,000 square feet of new clinical space to consolidate services, upgrade and expand services, and improve access to care. The hospital’s current facilities are no longer able to meet the increasing demand for treatment — the number of patients treated on an outpatient basis annually increased from 400,000 to 985,000 between 1997 and 2007, and the number of inpatient admissions increased from 17,500 to more than 21,000 between 2000 and 2007.

The nine-story Shapiro Ambulatory Care Center will be located at the corner of East Concord and Albany Streets and will provide outpatient care. The Shapiro Family Foundation’s gift was announced by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (Hon.’01), BMC President and CEO Elaine Ullian, BMC Board of Trustees Chair Marshall Carter, and BMC Board Vice Chair Alan Solomont.

“We are deeply grateful to the Shapiro Family for their generosity,” Ullian says. “This gift will have a lasting impact on our patients and the care they receive and will ensure that we continue to provide exceptional care without exception.”

Carl Shapiro is the founder and former chairman of Kay Windsor, Inc., a manufacturer and importer of women’s apparel based in New Bedford, Mass. He founded Kay Windsor in 1939 and built it into one of the largest companies of its kind in the country before it was acquired by VF Corporation in 1971. The Shapiros, who live in Palm Beach, Fla., and Boston, are widely known for their extensive support of both regions’ major medical, cultural, and educational institutions. In Boston, along with their support of BMC, they have given to Brandeis University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Dana-Farber Cancer Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Wellesley College, Hebrew SeniorLife, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Museum of Fine Arts. In Florida, they are active in the Norton Art Museum, the Kravis Center for Performing Arts, and the Palm Beach Opera. In addition, through several community-based initiatives, the Shapiro Family Foundation supports close to 75 Boston nonprofits focused on improving the lives of the disabled, disadvantaged, and disenfranchised.

“Our family is very pleased to be making this investment in Boston Medical Center and the people of our city,” says Ronny Zinner, the Shapiros’ daughter and the president of the Shapiro Family Foundation. “Over the years we have come to know much more about the critical role that BMC plays in caring for the underserved and underprivileged in our community. In our estimation BMC is doing an extraordinary job fulfilling its mission.”

To support and fund the effort, the hospital anticipates launching a major capital campaign.