Tiara 2009

The goal of the “Endowment for the Hospital of 2020” is ambitious. Southwest’s goal is to raise $20 million by 2015.

By: Ken McEntee
Date: 02/24/2009
Envisioning the possibilities is the first step toward building the future.

Frank Mehwald’s father, Ernest, came to America in 1929 and took a job with a tool shop in Cleveland. Foregoing an hourly wage, the German immigrant preferred to be paid by the piece for the work he produced. Within three months, he had collected $8,000—a substantial sum in those days. Nine years later, he opened his own tool and die business.

Frank, who became president of Atlantic Tool and Die in 1966, further stamped the possibilities into reality, expanding the family business into an international operation with eight production facilities in three countries, plus an engineering office in Costa Rica.

Atlantic Tool and Die was one of the pioneer industrial businesses in Strongsville when Frank moved the company to the rural town of 12,000 people in 1967. From the beginning he has been a community leader and a generous supporter of youth sports and other local groups and charities. Along with local service on various city commissions, he is a longtime director of the Ohio Manufacturing Association.

Building on the theme, “Possibilities...Building a Solid Future,” The Southwest Community Health Foundation has chosen Frank and his wife Mary as Grand Honorary Chairpersons of its 22nd annual Tiara dinner dance. The black-tie fundraiser, to be held Saturday, April 25, at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, draws about 1,000 attendees every year to dine, dance and socialize—all for the benefit of Southwest General Health Center.
Proceeds from this year’s event will be the first contribution to the foundation’s new “Endowment for the Hospital of 2020.”

“We look for extraordinary people to be honorary chairpersons,” explains Paul Kline, the foundation’s vice president and executive director. “When you look at the honorary chairpersons of the past you see nothing but excellence, and the Mehwalds fit that mold. They have been very generous donors and model advocates for Southwest General and the community.”

Frank and Mary Mehwald have worked behind the scenes for nearly a decade to help make Tiara a resounding success. For the past several years Mary has coordinated the event’s extraordinary auctions.

“This is a great honor,” Mary says. “Tiara is the number one formal event in the area. It’s very glamorous and a lot of fun to see all the people you know. And it’s for a wonderful cause.”

Since its inception, Tiara has raised nearly $4.5 million in support of Southwest’s programs. Over the past three years, the event has raised more than $1 million to buy a world class linear accelerator for Southwest’s Ireland Cancer Center.

The owner and operator of a 20-acre horse boarding facility in Strongsville, Mary is a lifelong animal lover who is actively involved in rescue programs. Her horse operation began with the rescue of a racehorse in 2000. Seeking a home for the animal, the Mehwalds found a barn on an old farm near the Metroparks.

“When we rescued a second horse a couple years later the owners asked whether we’d like to buy the place,” Mary recalls.

Frank and Mary have two rescued German Shepherds and recently rescued a cat.

But the story Frank likes to tell is about Mary’s hands-on rescue of a petrified deer that had stopped traffic on a foggy night in the Metroparks. Mary, elegantly dressed in high heels for a formal event from which the couple had just attended, got out of the car, wrapped her arms around the deer and reassuringly escorted it, step-by-step off the road.

“I kept telling it that everything was going to be fine,” Mary says. “All of the people in the cars were cheering.”

Mary says she is to honored to be co-chair of Tiara, but she jokes that she should be in the running for another title as well. For winning Frank a $20,000 Harley in a recent charity raffle, she laughs, “That should make me the wife of the century.”

Although Frank appreciates his new ride, he laments that he doesn’t have much time to ride it. “I’m too busy shoveling horse manure,” he says.

Noting that Southwest has been named one of the 50 best hospitals in America by HealthGrades, a national health care ratings firm, for two years in a row, Frank and Mary say they are delighted to do whatever they can to support the Health Center.

“What makes Southwest stand out among hospitals is the human touch,” Mary says. “The design is wonderful, too. Every room has an outside view. The food is good. It’s as pleasant as a hospital can be.”
An enhanced patient experience is among the goals of the Hospital of 2020, a concept developed by an international strategy group organized to design a state-of-the-art hospital of the future. The design considers the full hospital experience, including clinical functions as well as the experience of patients, physicians and other employees.


Looking to the future, the newly created Endowment for the Hospital of 2020 has a goal of raising $20 million by 2015.

The Hospital of 2020 concept entails eight dimensions of attention, including:
Patient experience
Physician experience
Facility and décor
Information technology enhancements
Employee experience
Community alliances
Payer relations
Governance and leadership

Each dimension has a series of features that are likely to be included in the Hospital of 2020. For example, the dimension of patient experience includes such features as a safety-first culture; the increased use of convenient and accurate digital imaging technology; Smart Card and Web scheduling links to a patient’s
Electronic Health Records; digital medical information kiosks in all waiting areas; minimally invasive surgical procedures; a 24-7 concierge and valet parking access for visitors; and a “Ritz Carlton-Disney” service culture.
Facility design in the Hospital of 2020 considers elements like a park-like campus; a warm, open floor plan with digital signage; and a healing environment of colors, music and healing gardens on campus.

According to Thomas A. Selden, president and CEO, Southwest’s vision of the Hospital of 2020 is taking shape on a daily basis. “Groundwork is being laid via the initiatives of long-range planning, facilities planning, physician-related and patient care initiatives and so forth,” he says.

Fundraising, he explains, is a vital part of the Hospital of 2020 strategy. Creation and implementation of the concept will be expensive and will require support from philanthropy. That’s where the new endowment comes in. The philanthropic dollars in an endowment are referred to as the principal.

While gift income can be added to expand the principal, the principal itself remains intact in perpetuity or for a defined time period. It is the annual interest generated from the endowment that can be spent.

For more information about attending or supporting the 2009 Tiara, you may call the Southwest Community Health Foundation at 440-816-6714.

Email This Story To A Friend

Your Friend's Email Address:

Your Name:

Your Email Address: