LEADERS OF SOUTHEAST HOSPITAL'S CAPITAL CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCED

Key leaders for a $1.7 million capital campaign at Southeast Missouri Hospital have been announced by the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation.

Honorary chairmen are Cape Girardeau attorney Rush H. Limbaugh and Martin Hecht of Hecht's Stores. Serving as general campaign chairmen are Board of Trustees President Charles Hutson and Foundation Board President Walter Joe Ford.

To date, approximately $500,000 has been pledged toward the campaign goal. The fund drive is being conducted by the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation on behalf of the hospital.

"Our campaign leadership reflects the community involvement that has been an integral part of Southeast Missouri Hospital since it was opened 64 years ago," said Foundation Director J. Charles Stotz. "As we turn to the community for continued support of our programs and services, we hope this partnership in health care will continue."

Both Limbaugh and Hecht are longtime community leaders. In addition to a long and distinguished legal career, Limbaugh has supported Southeast Missouri Hospital both as a member of the Board of Trustees and as former legal counsel for the hospital. He was elected to the board in June 1937, serving until April 1963, when he became an honorary board member.

During his tenure on the board, Limbaugh served on several committees, including the legal committee and professional and medical committee. It was during Limbaugh's board service that the hospital embarked on its first major patient-services expansion a new addition completed in 1957, doubling the bed capacity of the hospital to about 153.

Hecht's association with Southeast began with his father, the late Louis Hecht, one of the hospital's most loyal supporters and a member of its first Board of Trustees. Martin Hecht was elected to the board in 1949 to fill a vacancy left by his father, who at the time chose honorary board status. As a member of the board until 1970, Hecht served on a number of committees and also served as campaign chairman for the East Wing Addition, a 64-bed addition which opened in 1966. The campaign goal for that project, $450,000, was exceeded by more than $11,000. Today, Hecht is a member of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation Board of Directors.

Ford, an active supporter of Southeast for more than 20 years, served as vice president of the Foundation Board from 1989 until he assumed the duties of president in 1991. He is also a member of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Association, and in 1971 was elected to the Board of Trustees. He has served on a number of Board of Trustees committees, including chairmanship of a special memorials committee. During a hospital expansion in 1973, Ford served as chairman of the special gifts committee.

Hutson, also a member of the Hospital Association, was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1979. He has served as chairman of a special medical facilities committee and as a member of other standing committees. He currently is chairman of the Long Range Planning Committee. Before assuming the board presidency in spring 1991, Hutson served as the board's secretary-treasurer, vice president and first vice president.

Construction on the $19 million Clinical Services Building will get under way this summer and will be ready for occupancy in spring 1995. The four-level, 105,000-square-foot structure will increase by 40 percent the 250,000 square feet Southeast has under roof at the present time.

It will house new emergency services and radiology departments; expanded surgery services, including four new operating rooms,; cardiology services and clinical lab services; and a new heliport and support services for LifeBeat, the hospital's emergency air medical service.