BANGOR, Maine — Two hospitals in Bangor are getting a major boost in funding thanks to a donation from a former patient.
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center and St. Joseph Healthcare are each receiving $9 million.
The announcement was made Wednesday afternoon at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The donation comes from the late John Marshall Webber. Webber, a Bangor native and Marine Corps veteran, was very active throughout his life in supporting charitable initiatives in the region.
Steven Spetnagel, Webber's nephew and the executor of the Webber's estate, said it’s a “Webber philosophy” to be charitable to the community and to share.
“John, like his parents before him, firmly believed in sharing his resources and that it is the ongoing role of citizens to ensure that their community remains vibrant for future generations,” Spetnagel said.
Webber's family says the intention of the gift is to invest in the future of health care in the greater Bangor area.
"There are big needs, big demands for new technology, innovation, in health care right now. And this will help us stay up to date on things like providing care for cancer patients or advanced surgical kind of procedures. The kind of things in tertiary care, we call it, that Eastern Maine Medical Center really focuses on," Tim Dentry, president and CEO of Northern Light Health, and interim president of Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, said.
According to the two hospitals, an additional donation of several million dollars from Webber’s estate is expected at a later date.
Northern Light stated the $9 million donation is the largest gift in Eastern Maine Medical Center's history.