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Howard Girdlestone Gives $1 Million for New Sequoia Hospital

Issue: July 2009

Howard Girdlestone has pledged $1 million to help build and equip Redwood City’s new Sequoia Hospital. The gift was made to The New Sequoia Hospital Campaign, which has raised $7.5 million of its $20 million goal.

A former member of both the United States Navy and Marine Corps, Mr. Girdlestone moved to San Carlos in 1953 and purchased his home for just $19,000. In the years since, he has become a prominent figure in the community, as the founding President of the Parks and Recreation Foundation of San Carlos, Citizen of the Year in 2001, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s Outstanding Philanthropist for 2008. Mr. Girdlestone became active with Sequoia Hospital in the early 1990’s and publicly credits Sequoia’s physicians and staff with curing his prostate cancer with radiation. He has served on the Sequoia Hospital Foundation’s Board of Directors since 2004.

“Realizing the importance of Sequoia Hospital to our community, I am very proud to join with others in being a part of its development,” said Mr. Girdlestone. “I know this facility will improve the quality of life for the people on the Peninsula and the surrounding region for decades to come.”

Sequoia is building a new hospital at its historic site in Redwood City, at the intersection of Alameda de las Pulgas and Whipple Avenue. The new hospital will be a full-service, 148,000 square foot, four-story building located in the center of the Sequoia campus adjacent to the existing hospital facility. Site work began in late 2007 and the new Sequoia Hospital will be completed in 2012.

Two floors, approximately 50% of the entire new hospital, will be dedicated to cardiac and vascular services. Plans also include an inpatient surgery center with two suites designed to accommodate open-heart surgery and a 16-bed intensive care unit. Virtually all of the patient rooms will be private rooms with sleeping accommodations for family members. Key areas of the existing Sequoia Hospital facility to be renovated as part of the new hospital project include the Emergency Department, the Birthing Center, food services and imaging. When complete, the new Emergency Department will be significantly larger and will feature a separate entrance for trauma and ambulance arrivals.

The projected total cost to build the new Sequoia hospital is $240 million. The cost will be met by a collaborative financing plan that calls for $75 million funded by Catholic Healthcare West, $75 million from Sequoia Hospital, $75 million from the Sequoia Healthcare District and $15 million from philanthropic contributions raised by the Sequoia Hospital Foundation.

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