Jim Moss 10/9/08 pullout at bottom

From staff reports

news@joplinglobe.com

A retired nurse who is a cancer survivor and her husband, a retired bank president, made a donation to Freeman Health System and the Freeman Foundation. It will be used as the basis for a fund-raising campaign to upgrade and centralize care at the Freeman Women’s Pavilion.

Wes and Jan Houser, of Columbus, Kan., made a gift to Freeman that hospital officials describe as “significant,” though they would not disclose the amount.

Gary Duncan, Freeman president and chief executive officer, announced the gift this week, and said the department will be renamed the Wes and Jan Houser Freeman Women’s Pavilion.

Jan Houser, a native of Columbus, changed careers at age 50 by earning a nursing degree, according to a statement issued by Freeman. She has been cancer-free for 34 years.

“Having cancer made me realize the importance of health screening and taking care of yourself,” she was quoted in the statement as saying. “With this gift, if I can help one person enjoy life as much as I have, it will be worth it.”

Wes Houser was born in Carthage and has lived since childhood in Columbus, where he was president of Columbus State Bank. He also worked for Commerce Bank and was president of Commerce Bank of Joplin. He served on Freeman’s board of directors from 1979 to 1989 and was chairman of the board from 1982 until 1984.

The couple declined an interview, but in the statement, Wes Houser said he is grateful to Freeman for the care he received during and after a 2005 heart bypass operation.

“We are very happy to give a gift to Freeman to continue the improvements in health care for the people in this community,” he said in the statement.

Terri Heckmaster, executive director of the Freeman Foundation, said: “This is our lead gift toward a $3 million fund goal that we have. Our goal is to bring new technologies that will benefit women’s health care.”

She said the fund-raising campaign for work at the pavilion will go on until November 2009.

Freeman plans to centralize women’s diagnostic care in the pavilion and install new equipment.

Heckmaster said the plan includes the purchase of a new breast MRI that reduces the time a patient must spend in the machine and is designed to be more comfortable than existing equipment.