SOUTHEAST HOSPITAL TO HONOR DR. RAPP AND HIS WIFE

Southeast Missouri Hospital's new radiology department will be dedicated in memory of Dr. Harold B. Rapp, a longtime Cape Girardeau physician, and his wife, Dorothy Rapp-Mitchell.

The couple had a long history of service to the hospital.

The dedication will be made during a special reception tonight at the Holiday Inn Convention Center. Tom Welch, director of the radiology department, and Ken Barrett, a nuclear-medicine technician, will share their personal recollections about the couple and will unveil a specially created plaque to be placed in the radiology waiting area.

Rapp, who died in May 1982, had been an active member of Southeast's medical staff since 1954. He served as its secretary, vice president and president.

He also served as chief of the medical staff for the radiology department from 1970 through 1972 and was a past president of the Missouri Radiological Society. Both he and his wife were members of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Association.

Rapp-Mitchell will be recognized as the founding contributor for the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation's 21st Century Partners planned-giving program, said J. Charles Stotz, executive director of the foundation.

Through the program, the hospital received a $500,000 bequest following Rapp-Mitchell's death in 1993.

"The gift given by Mrs. Rapp-Mitchell and gifts given by others will help assure the future of health care as we move toward the 21st century," Stotz said. "The challenges facing health care today are enormous. Local hospitals must have strong community support. Generous gifts such as Mrs. Rapp-Mitchell's are crucial to our future."

Rapp-Mitchell was a member of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Auxiliary, having served as treasurer, vice president and president. She also served on the hospital Board of Trustees as an active member from 1984 to 1990, and then served as an honorary trustee.

"Because of the history of Dr. Rapp with the radiology department, we felt it would be very appropriate to dedicate the majority of the funds to the new radiology department that was built in the clinical services building," Stotz said.

The new department opened in fall 1994. The move from the department's previous quarters, which it had occupied since 1957, more than doubled its space, from 9,500 square feet to 24,000 square feet. The department houses suites for mammography, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and CT scans, seven clinical radiology procedure rooms and the waiting area.

More than 63,000 radiological procedures are performed annually at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

In addition, 60 members of the Foundation's Million Dollar Club who have reached new plateaus of giving will be recognized at tonight's reception for total and cumulative contributions of $1,000 or more.

Stotz said the Foundation in 1995 received "close to $1 million" in planned gifts and bequests from families and individuals.

"All in all, the foundation has raised in the last seven years about $2.5 million" in bequests, he said.