SANTA MONICA, CA (October 22, 2016) – The Irene Dunne Guild co-hosted the 2016 Caritas Gala in partnership with the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation board of trustees tonight (Saturday, Oct. 22) at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills. The black-tie event honored Jennifer Beals with the Caritas Award; Allyson Felix with the inaugural Hope & Inspiration Award; and Kathleen McCarthy Kostlan, on behalf of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, with the Spirit of Saint John’s Award. The Caritas Gala honors individuals who exemplify dedication and commitment to the community and embody the philosophy and mission of Saint John’s.
 
The evening featured a special performance by singer/songwriter and actress Alisan Porter, recent winner of NBC’s The Voice, Season 10.
 
Donna L. Schweers, chair of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation board of trustees, welcomed the more than 400   guests, noting that next year marks the 75th anniversary of Saint John’s, “…a community of care that includes a remarkable and remarkably dedicated group of physicians delivering world-class clinical care.” She went on to acknowledge the evening’s dinner chairs (Debra and Norris J. Bishton Jr., The Martha and David L. Ho Family, Shelby Notkin, Dominic J. Ornato and the Schweers-Geiser Family) before introducing gala co-chairs Judy Beck and Kathy Yawitz. Beck recognized guild president, Brenda McDonald and stated the guild would be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2017. Yawitz acknowledged that since its inception, the guild has raised more than $13 million, resulting in a host of new equipment and programs that benefit Saint Johns’ patients throughout the hospital’s many departments.
 
Marcel Loh, chief executive of Providence Saint John’s Health Center and John Wayne Cancer Center, shared exciting  Health Center updates and accolades including the recent U.S. News and World Report top ranking for knee and hip replacements and treatment of congestive heart failure. He also acknowledged honoree Kathleen McCarthy Kostlan as “the embodiment of the community support that created and sustains Saint John’s legacy of excellence.”
 
Robert O. Klein, president and CEO of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, presented the Spirit of Saint John’s Award to the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation. Kathleen McCarthy Kostlan, chair of the Leavey Foundation, daughter of its founders and a Saint John’s Health Center Foundation trustee accepted the award. “Kathleen and the Leavey Foundation,” said Klein “have for many, many years been ‘stand by your side’ kind of friends to us at Saint John’s, the ones who are always there in times of real need, and not just with financial support, but also encouragement, energy and vision.”
 
Kathleen McCarthy Kostlan serves as a trustee of the University of Southern California as well as several community and charitable boards. Thomas Leavey co-founded Farmers Insurance in 1928 based on the premise that rural drivers should pay less for insurance because they encountered less risk than their urban-dwelling counterparts. After the insurance company became one of the most successful in the nation, Leavey and his wife Dorothy E. Risley Leavey started the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation in 1952 to share their good fortune with medical, Catholic and educational community institutions they supported.
 
Olympic Gold medalist Joanna Hayes presented the 2016 Hope & Inspiration Award to six-time Olympic champion, Allyson Felix, noting that “it is an honor to present the award to my friend and my inspiration.”
 
Olympian Felix is now the most decorated female track and field Olympian in history. Felix grew up in Los Angeles. Her father, Paul, an ordained minister, was an excellent sprinter as a teen. She inherited her long legs from her school teacher mother, Marlean. Felix attended Los Angeles Baptist High School in North Hills and accomplished impressive feats over her high school career. She broke Marion Jones’ high-school 200-meter record in April, 2003. Weeks later, she competed in the Banamex Grand Prix in Mexico City and ran a blazing 22.11 200-meter race, a new world record in the under-20 category. Felix won three gold medals in the 2012 Olympic Games and followed that up in 2016 with two more gold medals and a silver medal.
 
Sheryl Ross, MD, presented the Caritas Award to “my patient and dear friend, Jennifer Beals,” describing the internationally renowned actress as “a fierce activist for social change and equality for the underdog. She sees the world as it is, but believes we have the power to make it better.”
 
As part of the presentation to Beals, John M. Robertson, MD, announced that the actress and activist has partnered with clothing designers and a number of Saint John’s physicians including Dr. Ross, Nicole Weinberg, MD, and himself to help research and develop a new type of bra that can be used in the everyday stress testing of women evaluated for cardiovascular disease and for women recovering from open heart surgery.
 
Jennifer Beals has been featured in more than 50 films and among some of the highest rated television series to date. Currently she stars in NBC’s medical drama The Night Shift, and can next be seen as the female lead in Taken, NBC’s straight-to-series adaptation of the hit movie franchise. She earned a Golden Globe nomination and won an NAACP Image Award for Best Actress for her role in the iconic film Flashdance, a Canadian Screen Award nomination for her role in A Wife’s Nightmare and a Golden Satellite Award for her role in Twilight of the Golds. Beals recently starred in Manhattan Night, and her latest film project, Before I Fall, will be released theatrically in April 2017. She will executive produce the upcoming dance drama The Edge, recently sold to FOX, teaming up with Kenny Ortega and James Larosa. Beals starred in TNT’s Proof, The Chicago Code and the hit Showtime series The L Word, which aired for six seasons and garnered her two NAACP Image Awards and a Satellite Award nomination. Beals received the Maverick Tribute Award at the Cinequest San Jose Film Festival in 1999. She was presented with the Human Rights Campaign’s Ally for Equality Award in 2012 for her support in the LGBT community.
 
Net proceeds from the gala benefit vital programs and services at the Health Center. Since 1987, the guild has raised more than $13 million and has supported Saint John’s through a wide variety of innovative philanthropic, educational and volunteer programs and services. The guild was named for the late actress Irene Dunne, considered the “First Lady” of Saint John’s.
 
Past Caritas Gala honorees include: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Martin Sheen, Vin Scully, Robert Wagner, Angela Lansbury, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards, Chris O’Donnell, Tonian Hohberg, Raylene and Bruce Meyer, Merle and Peter Mullin and Jimmy Stewart.
 
About Saint John’s Health Center Foundation
Saint John’s Health Center Foundation inspires philanthropic support for Providence Saint John’s Health Center and the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica. Private support provides the margin of excellence that enables both the hospital and the Institute to be leaders in the quality of care and research they provide. For more information, visit www.SaintJohnsFoundation.org.
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Contact:
 
Pam Giangregorio                                           
Katy Sweet & Associates Public Relations             
310-479-2333 / Pam@KatySweetPR.com               
​

Last year’s Think Pink fundraiser may have saved Brooke Crane’s life.
The 39-year-old mother of two heard the main speaker, Dr. Chloe Bird, repeatedly urge the mostly female audience to pay attention if they felt tightness above their bellybuttons and below their chins. Crane, a lifelong Palisadian, took note, but didn’t think it would happen to her.
That night it did.
“It sort of felt like a fat man was sitting on my chest,” Crane said. “So what did I do? Initially, I just ignored it.”
​
The timing wasn’t good. Her husband, Bryan, was out of town, it was raining, and she had chores to do like putting her two daughters to bed. In order to go to the emergency room, she’d have to get assistance, including someone to stay with her kids, Carly, 8, and Caroline, 6.
However, Bird had insisted that women in particular need to put their health first, and when Crane paused and listened to her body, she felt an “uh-oh feeling.”
She had some other issues that had seemed minor: a persistent cough and fatigue plus a small bump on her right clavicle that her doctor had thought was just a swollen lymph node due to a cold. However, when Crane checked in with herself, she felt concerned.
“Something wasn’t quite right, and I just couldn’t stop thinking about Dr. Bird’s advice: I matter. I deserve to slow down, listen to my body and take action if necessary,” Crane said.
It was lucky that she listened. When she and her mother-in-law Janie Crane got to St. John’s Hospital, she learned after a battery of tests that she had fluid around her heart and a mass in her chest. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a rare blood cancer that accounts for .5 percent of cancers, had struck her.
However, Crane caught it in time, beat it with 12 rounds of chemotherapy in a six-month treatment plan, and this year on May 11, was the main speaker at the Irene Dunne Guild’s Think Pink event at the Bel-Air Bay Club.
Instead of a doctor offering advice, Crane was able to provide information from the patient’s point of view to the almost 250 attendees who came to learn more about women’s health care.
Her top ten “take-aways” from this life-changing experience were:
1.) Make the first 48 hours after the diagnosis count. In her case, she and her loved ones channeled their intense emotions into research and calls that created a manageable path for her treatment.
2.) Talk to people who have been through something similar.
3.) Get multiple opinions. Crane resisted this at first as she immediately liked the hospital’s oncologist. But then she got a second opinion and a third. The third time was a charm. Dr. Lawrence Piro’s treatment plan, which included an ABVD chemo regime that he helped invent, was the perfect match for her and created a less intense path that didn’t require radiation.
4.) Be willing to say yes when people offer advice and help, and don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. For Crane, this meant she accepted private yoga lessons from a mom she’d never met and made new friends who aided her.
5.) Give people specific tasks/jobs—they want to help so let them. A friend took over her emails, and another coordinated meals for her. Others regularly accompanied her to chemo treatments.
6.) Write a blog or journal—or find some other way to communicate simply with people, so that the task of notifying people of treatment progress is easier.
7.) Take control in your own way, and don’t let the disease control you. For Crane, this meant she chose to shave her head whether she would end up needing it or not.
8.) Have an open mind—Crane chose to try jin shin jytsu, a helpful acupressure treatment for the pain and nausea of chemo.
9.) Have faith in a higher power. Crane said she “chose faith over fear.”
And finally, “number 10,” Crane said, “which I learned last year, right here in this room from Dr. Bird, and it probably saved my life: ‘Listen to your body.’”
By LAUREL BUSBY
Staff Writer
Brooke Crane Photo: Glenn Marzano

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SANTA MONICA - The Irene Dunne Guild co-hosted the 2015 Caritas Gala in partnership with the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation board of trustees October 24 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills. The black-tie event honored Wendy Goldstein, executive vice president and head of urban A&R at Republic Records; civic leader Raylene and husband Bruce Meyer, president, Meyer Pacific; and philanthropist Merle Mullin and husband Peter Mullin, co-founder and chairman of the board of M Financial Holdings and chairman of Mullin │ Barens │ Sanford Financial.  The evening featured a special performance by DNCE which is fronted by Joe Jonas, with JinJoo, Cole Whittle and Jack Lawless.
 
Gala Dinner Chairs were Abbott L. Brown, Donna and David Elmore, S.H. Ho Foundation, Darcie Denkert Notkin and Shelby Notkin and Dominic Ornato.
 
Gala Chair Judy Beck and Dr. John Robertson, Chairman of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation Board of Trustees welcomed the more than 450 guests.  Beck enumerated the work of The Irene Dunne Guild, “supporting Saint John’s Health Center for 27 years with human and financial resources raising critical funds …supporting Saint John’s Emergency Department, Neonatal Intensive Care Units, the Child and Family Development Center and much more.”
 
Dr. Robertson thanked the honorees and gala guests as “those who give back to their community because they are compelled by a compassion for others and an honest desire to strengthen their community.”  He then welcomed Marcel Loh, Chief Executive of Saint John’s Health Center. 
 
“In 2015,” Loh said, “Saint John’s Health Center was cited as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals, marking the ninth straight year the Health Center has earned this distinction,”  leading him to announce the Center’s new branding campaign, “A place you can believe in.”
 
Dr. Lawrence Piro, President and CEO of The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, presented the 2015 Caritas Award to Wendy Goldstein, executive vice president and head of urban A&R at Republic Records. Goldstein’s focus has cultivated and bolstered the label’s presence within the urban realm. In 2013, she collaborated with Ariana Grande on the conception and release of her full-length debut, Yours Truly, which debuted #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and yielded the #1 double-platinum smash, The Way. Under her tenure, Republic Records signed Bay Area hip-hop sensation Sage the Gemini, soul crooner Adrian Marcel and super producer DJ Mustard. In addition, she handled artist & repertoire duties for Enrique Iglesias, Mika and Colbie Caillat among others. A division of Universal Music Group, the world’s leading music company, Republic is home to an all-star roster of multi-platinum, award-winning legends and superstar artists including Ariana Grande, Black Sabbath, Florence + the Machine, Godsmack, Gotye, James Blake, Of Monsters and Men, Owl City, The Weeknd and Hailee Steinfeld.
  
Donna Tuttle presented The 2015 Spirit of Saint John’s Awards to Bruce and Raylene Meyer and Peter and Merle Mullin for their inspirational service to Providence Saint John’s Health Center and its mission. Bruce Meyer is president and founder of the family real estate investment company, Meyer Pacific, Inc. He presided over the Beverly Hills landmark retailer GEARYS for 35 years which remains in the family and is run by his nephew, Tom Blumenthal. Bruce is a long-time collector of vintage automobiles, historic race cars, and motorcycles and is actively involved in the Petersen Automotive Museum where he served as the first chairman of the board and still remains on its board today. He is a past president of the California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation.
 
Raylene Meyer shares in her husband’s passion for family, philanthropy and automobiles.  Active with the Los Angeles Music Center, she is a member of the Blue Ribbon and chairs the organization’s 2016 Children’s Festival as well as past president and a current member of the Symphonians. A member of the Junior League of Los Angeles, Raylene has also served on the board of The Costume Council of the Los Angeles County Art Museum and is a member of the board of The Diadames of the Child Care League.  A long-time supporter of Children’s Hospital, she has served on the boards of their affiliate groups, Las Madrinas and Children’s Chain.
 
Peter Mullin is co-founder and chairman of the board of M Financial Holdings Incorporated and chairman of Mullin │ Barens │ Sanford Financial, an independent executive benefits and solutions provider and member of M Financial Group. He serves on the board of the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, the Art Center College of Design, Guggenheim Foundation Advisory Board and Occidental College. He is also chairman of the Peter Mullin Automotive Museum Foundation, chairman of the Peterson Automotive Museum and president of the American Bugatti Club.
 
Merle Mullin holds several board positions including the National Trust of Italy (FAI), the Blue Ribbon of the Music Center of Los Angeles, Diadames, and the Board of Visitors, UC Davis School of Viticulture and Enology. She is a fellow of the Huntington Gardens and Library and director of the Mullin Automotive Museum. The Mullins are proprietors of Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma, where they produce outstanding, highly rated pinot noir, syrah, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.
 
The Caritas Gala is co-hosted each year by the Irene Dunne Guild in partnership with the Saint John’s Foundation board of trustees to honor individuals who exemplify dedication and commitment to the community and embody the philosophy and mission of Providence Saint John’s. Net proceeds from the gala benefit vital programs and services at the Health Center. Since 1987, the guild has raised more than $11 million and has supported Providence Saint John’s through a wide variety of innovative philanthropic, educational and volunteer programs and services. The guild was named for the late actress Irene Dunne, considered the “First Lady” of Providence Saint John’s.
 
Past Caritas Gala honorees include Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Martin Sheen, Vin Scully, Robert Wagner, Angela Lansbury, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards, Chris O’Donnell, David and Yolanda Foster, Tonian Hohberg, and Jimmy Stewart. 
# # #
 
Contact:
Pam Giangregorio                                         
Katy Sweet & Associates Public Relations
(310) 479-2333 / Pam@KatySweetPR.com              

​SANTA MONICA, CA – The Irene Dunne Guild co-hosts the 2015 Caritas Gala in partnership with the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation board of trustees, Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills. The black-tie event will honor Wendy Goldstein, executive vice president and head of urban A&R at Republic Records; civic leader Raylene Meyer and husband Bruce Meyer, president, Meyer Pacific; and philanthropist Merle Mullin and husband Peter Mullin, co-founder and chairman of the board of M Financial Holdings and chairman of Mullin │ Barens │ Sanford Financial. 
 
“This year’s honorees have not only excelled in their professional arenas, but each made a commitment early on to embrace the spirit of philanthropy and continue to live by that tenet,” said Robert O. Klein, president and CEO, Saint John’s Health Center Foundation. “It would be impossible to enumerate all they have given back to our community, but it is safe to say that each represents the dedication and commitment that embody the philosophy of Providence Saint John’s.”
 
“I share in congratulating these five extraordinary individuals,” said Kate Prudente, president of the Irene Dunne Guild. “Their myriad contributions toward the betterment of so many lives, past, present and future are emblematic of the goals of our organization.”
 
Wendy Goldstein, executive vice president and head of urban A&R at Republic Records will be honored with the 2015 Caritas Award. Goldstein’s focus has cultivated and bolstered the label’s presence within the urban realm. In 2013, she collaborated with Ariana Grande on the conception and release of her full-length debut, Yours Truly, which debuted #1 on the Billboard Top 200 and yielded the #1 double-platinum smash, The Way. Under her tenure, Republic Records signed Bay Area hip-hop sensation Sage the Gemini, soul crooner Adrian Marcel and super producer DJ Mustard. In addition, she handled artist & repertoire duties for Enrique Iglesias, Mika and Colbie Caillat among others. A division of Universal Music Group, the world’s leading music company, Republic is home to an all-star roster of multi-platinum, award-winning legends and superstar artists including Ariana Grande, Black Sabbath, Florence + the Machine, Godsmack, Gotye, James Blake, Of Monsters and Men, Owl City, The Weeknd and Hailee Steinfeld.
 
The Spirit of Saint John’s Award will be presented to Foundation trustee Bruce Meyer and his wife Raylene for their inspirational service to Providence Saint John’s Health Center and its mission. Bruce Meyer is president and founder of the family real estate investment company, Meyer Pacific, Inc. Bruce Meyer presided over the Beverly Hills landmark retailer GEARYS for 35 years which remains in the family and is run by his nephew, Tom Blumenthal. Bruce is a long-time collector of vintage automobiles, historic race cars, and motorcycles and is actively involved in the Petersen Automotive Museum where he served as the first chairman of the board and still remains on its board today. He is a past president of the California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation.
 
Raylene Meyer shares in her husband’s passion for family, philanthropy and automobiles.  Active with the Los Angeles Music Center, she is a member of the Blue Ribbon and chairs the organization’s 2016 Children’s Festival as well as past president and a current member of the Symphonians. A member of the Junior League of Los Angeles, Raylene has also served on the board of The Costume Council of the Los Angeles County Art Museum and is a member of the board of The Diadames of the Child Care League.  A long-time supporter of Children’s Hospital, she has served on the boards of their affiliate groups, Las Madrinas and Children’s Chain.
 
Peter Mullin and wife Merle will be honored with the Spirit of Saint John’s Award. Peter Mullin is co-founder and chairman of the board of M Financial Holdings Incorporated and chairman of Mullin │ Barens │ Sanford Financial, an independent executive benefits and solutions provider and member of M Financial Group. He serves on the board of the Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, the Art Center College of Design, Guggenheim Foundation Advisory Board and Occidental College. He is also chairman of the Peter Mullin Automotive Museum Foundation, chairman of the Peterson Automotive Museum and president of the American Bugatti Club.
 
Merle Mullin holds several board positions including the National Trust of Italy (FAI), the Blue Ribbon of the Music Center of Los Angeles, Diadames, and the Board of Visitors, UC Davis School of Viticulture and Enology. She is a fellow of the Huntington Gardens and Library and director of the Mullin Automotive Museum. The Mullins are proprietors of Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma, where they produce outstanding, highly rated pinot noir, syrah, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.
 
The Caritas Gala is co-hosted each year by the Irene Dunne Guild in partnership with the Saint John’s Foundation board of trustees to honor individuals who exemplify dedication and commitment to the community and embody the philosophy and mission of Providence Saint John’s. Net proceeds from the gala benefit vital programs and services at the Health Center. Since 1987, the guild has raised more than $11 million and has supported Providence Saint John’s through a wide variety of innovative philanthropic, educational and volunteer programs and services. The guild was named for the late actress Irene Dunne, considered the “First Lady” of Providence Saint John’s.
 
Past Caritas Gala honorees include Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Martin Sheen, Vin Scully, Robert Wagner, Angela Lansbury, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards, Chris O’Donnell, David and Yolanda Foster, Tonian Hohberg, and Jimmy Stewart.
 
Individual tickets to the Oct. 24 Caritas Gala are $500 and sponsorship packages are available. For more information, please contact Tess Csiszar at Saint John’s Health Center Foundation at 310-829-8168 or email at Tess.Csiszar@stjohns.org.
 
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Contact:
 
Pam Giangregorio                                         
Katy Sweet & Associates Public Relations
(310) 479-2333 / Pam@KatySweetPR.com              

The specimen repository is one of the treasures of the John Wayne Cancer Institute. The repository is a bank of frozen specimens from cancer patients established by Institute co-founder Donald L. Morton, MD, and collected since 1971. The specimens are linked to a database containing records for more than 14,600 patients.

The repository is a gateway to the world of personalized cancer care—treatments based on each individual’s unique genetic and biochemical makeup. Thanks to a generous gift from the Irene Dunne Guild, the Institute will soon purchase a new, state-of-the-art, subzero storage unit for the continued collection of specimens, carrying on the vision of Dr. Morton.

“The guild voted unanimously to donate toward the specimen repository,” says Dolly Niemann, chair of the Irene Dunne Guild resource allocation committee. “We are excited to see the synergy between the Health Center and the Institute, and we want to support the continued success of the researchers at the Institute.”


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Please click here for direct access to the article 'Think Pink Luncheon Focused on Women's Health' reported by Jacqueline Primo of the Palisades Post.