6/19/2008
MCCABE FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA TO CREATE ENDOWMENT FOR COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH IN INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Ellie and Bob McCabe of Vero Beach have made a $2 million gift to the University of Florida to establish a permanent endowment to support psychiatry and community mental health in Indian River County.
The gift is the largest ever made by The Robert F. and Eleonora W. McCabe Foundation, which has focused its philanthropic efforts on mental health care in Indian River County since 2001. The endowment will fund The Robert F. and Eleonora W. McCabe Eminent Scholar Chair in Psychiatry and Community Mental Health at the University of Florida, UF College of Medicine, in Gainesville. The Eminent Scholar will be based in Vero Beach and will focus on developing a satellite academic department with a broad range of expertise to both train and retain psychiatric professionals in Indian River County.
"We have known for several years that our community suffers from a lack of access to psychiatric care." said Ellie McCabe, president of the McCabe Foundation. "Without early access to care, people who suffer from mental illness and addictions often end up hospitalized or in jail because of behavior related to their disease."
The Indian River County academic training center and clinic will begin to offer periodic continuing medical education for local physicians by late fall. The outpatient clinic, which will serve as a training site for future mental health professionals, will be modeled after other programs operated by the college's Department of Psychiatry led by Mark S. Gold, M.D., chairman.
"This gift will allow the University of Florida to attract and retain nationally recognized psychiatry and addiction leaders to benefit the people of Indian River County," Dr. Gold said. "At the same time, we are developing a potential model for other communities throughout the state and nation that have the same drive and desire as the McCabes to impact the availability of mental health care in their communities."
Dr. Gold will lead a national search for the McCabe Eminent Scholar Chair and anticipates that the Chair will eventually supervise two psychiatric fellows and a cognitive-behavioral treatment psychologist to provide outpatient care to residents of the community.
The McCabe Foundation plans to fund the eminent scholar chair endowment over a two-year period while submitting a request for matching funds to the State of Florida's Major Gifts Trust Fund. To avoid delay in opening the training center and clinic, the McCabes and the University of Florida appealed to other local philanthropists for charitable support of the project.
"I am honored to announce that four Founding Partners have stepped forward to provide immediate charitable support so that the new UF academic training center and outpatient clinic can open this fall," Mrs. McCabe said. "These four humanitarians each understand that making additional mental health care services available is a critical component to a healthy and thriving community."
The four Founding Partners include Mr. Harry Bolwell through the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Ireland; Mr. and Mrs. Donald Rebar; and The L.W. Pierce Family Foundation. The founding partners will provide grants over the next four years to support the professional staff needed to provide training and mental health services in the community.
"The College of Medicine currently operates one of the largest psychiatric training programs in the southeast," Dr. Gold said. "We see our partnership in Indian River County as extension of our mission to educate the next generation of psychiatrists, to serve the community's mental health needs and to raise awareness of the benefits of early intervention."
Dr. Michael Good, interim dean of the UF College of Medicine, praised the McCabes for their innovative approach to addressing their philanthropic mission.
"Many endowments are directed toward research with fewer being designated for education and community programs," Dr. Good said. "The McCabe Foundation gift is innovative and demonstrates a commitment to education, prevention, treatment, and the community. We believe their generosity will be contagious across the state of Florida."
To find out how you can help support psychiatry and community mental health education and community programs contact the UF College of Medicine office of development (352) 273-5880
