Jack Ferris estate donates to hospital foundation

Hospital Foundation board members received a check from the estate of Jack Ferris, native of LaCrosse, recently. Jack had no spouse or children and left his estate to his close childhood friend, Lester Guske, who made a donation from the estate to Whitman Community Hospital Foundation in honor of the benefits of good health care which Jack received, with the donation going to the endowment fund. Pictured are Mark Johnson, foundation board vice president; Lester and Janell Guske; Linda Marler, foundation board president, and Whitman Hospital and Medical Center CEO Hank Hanigan.

Ferris will be honored as a benefactor by the Foundation on its new donor recognition wall, which is being crafted now.

Income from endowment funds are used for critical projects for the hospital. When the hospital underwent a major remodeling, $250,000 from the Foundation helped pay to move the physical therapy and rehabilitation services into the ground floor of the new facility.

Recently, a gift from the Foundation’s endowment plus funds raised specifically for the project, more than $123,000, helped purchase the new 3-D mammography machine for the imaging department.