NEWS RELEASE
October 22, 2008

St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities Gives Annual Community Health Leadership Award to The Rose CEO and Co-Founder
$50,000 Grant Also Awarded to The Rose

HOUSTON - St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities announces Dorothy Weston Gibbons, CEO and co-founder of The Rose, as the recipient of the Community Health Leadership Award. As part of the award, a gift of $50,000 will be presented to The Rose, Houston area's leading 501(c)(3) non-profit breast cancer organization providing mammography screening, diagnosis, early access to treatment and support to all women regardless of their ability to pay.

“St. Luke’s is proud to honor Dorothy Weston Gibbons for her relentless pursuit to provide a vital community need,” said The Rt. Rev. Dena A. Harrison, Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and board chair of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities. “As founder of The Rose, Dorothy serves as a role model in advancing community health through body, mind and spirit.”

As co-founder and CEO for more than 22 years, Gibbons has created a Physician Network; established the first Young Women’s Clinic in Houston; helped form The Rose’s Mobile Program – a multi-county network of more than 100 healthcare agencies to maximize resources; and began the annual Breast Health Summit, which produced the 70-member Breast Health Collaborative of Texas. In 2007, The Rose provided 26,980 screening and diagnostic procedures for those able to pay and 13,082 screening and diagnostic procedures at no charge to low income, uninsured women.

“This award represents all we have accomplished as an organization,” said Gibbons. “I am so humbled by this recognition from St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities. On behalf of The Rose, we are thankful for the financial contribution that will help us continue do our mission in the community.”

Established in 2005, the St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities Community Leadership Award recognizes community health leaders from non-profit organizations who have not been fully recognized for charitable work. Each recipient demonstrates outstanding leadership and collaboration in advancing community health for the underserved.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities was founded in 1997 as a separate component of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System. In partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and the community, The Charities strives to increase opportunities for health enhancement and disease prevention, especially among the underserved, and makes possible measurable improvement in community health status and individual well-being.

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About St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System
St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System (www.stlukestexas.com) includes St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas; St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital; St. Luke’s Sugar Land Hospital; St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities, a charity devoted to assessing and enhancing community health, especially among the underserved; and, KS Management Services, LLC, overseeing 18 area clinic locations. St. Luke’s Clear Lake Hospital is scheduled to open in 2011 and plans are underway for St. Luke’s Lakeside Hospital in The Woodlands. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is home to the Texas Heart® Institute, which was founded in 1962 by Denton A. Cooley, MD, and is consistently ranked nationally among the top 10 cardiology and heart surgery centers in the nation by U.S.News & World Report. Affiliated with several nursing schools and two medical schools, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital was the first hospital in Texas named a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, and twice has been honored with the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™ by HealthGrades, a leading independent company that measures healthcare quality in hospitals. The Health System has been recognized by FORTUNE as among the “100 Best Companies to Work For” and by the Houston Business Journal as a top employer in Houston. St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System also was honored as one of Modern Healthcare magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work.”