Newswise — MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola Medicine recently celebrated the dedication of the Chris and Neil Blitstein Rehabilitation Track with a ribbon cutting ceremony at Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC). This newly renovated space is designed to inspire patients recovering from a transplant by giving them a cheerful place to walk and track progress toward their rehabilitation goals.
The Blitsteins' generous investment in the Chris and Neil Blitstein Rehabilitation Track has already made a positive impact on post-surgical transplant patients and their caregivers. Since its completion, patients have remarked that not only do they enjoy viewing the beautiful Chicago skyline as they walk, the track also inspires them to persevere and provides an opportunity to venture beyond the hospital unit where they spend so much of their day.
The Blitsteins, who live in Burr Ridge, made their generous gift in recognition of the exceptional care Mr. Blitstein received from Loyola Medicine's lung transplant team. Mr. Blitstein, who received his transplant at in 2017, credits Loyola’s lung transplant team with saving his life. Dan Dilling, MD, medical director of lung transplant at Loyola Medicine, said, “It has been a privilege for Loyola’s multidisciplinary lung team to be entrusted with Mr. Blitstein’s care and to see his life extended as a result.”
“Capital improvements like this one are critical to patient care at Loyola and at times are only possible as a result of the generosity of philanthropic supporters like Chris and Neil Blitstein,” said Tad Gomez, president of LUMC. “That is why we are so grateful to the Blitsteins for turning what before was simply a hallway into a source of beauty and inspiration for patients recovering from complex surgeries and working toward mobility and rehabilitation.”
Loyola Medicine is grateful to the Blitsteins for their many avenues of support including additional philanthropic generosity and volunteer leadership of patient and caregiver support programs. The Blitsteins explained, “It is an honor to support Loyola Medicine and the many caregivers who have given so much to our family. We are grateful beyond words.”
Loyola has the longest running and highest volume lung transplant program in Illinois. To date, our team has performed 1,195 life-saving lung transplants for patients from across Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
You can download photos of the event at this link.
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About Loyola Medicine
Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from more than 1,500 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. Loyola is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, a certified comprehensive stroke center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. Established in 1961, Gottlieb is a 247-licensed-bed community hospital in Melrose Park with the Judd A. Weinberg Emergency Department, the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research Facility at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center. MacNeal is a 374-licensed-bed teaching hospital in Berwyn with advanced medical, surgical and psychiatric services, acute rehabilitation, an inpatient skilled nursing facility and a 68-bed behavioral health program and community clinics.
For more information, visit loyolamedicine.org. You can also follow Loyola Medicine on LinkedIn, Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter).
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, Catholic health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 121,000 colleagues and nearly 36,500 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 27 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 101 hospitals, 126 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 136 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2023, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.5 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).
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