No doubt, the main point to celebrate in Rose Medical Center’s 70th anniversary is the range and quality of the medical care it provides. We leave this aside simply because it is so well known that it needs no special salute.
What strikes us about Rose on its 70th anniversary is the unlikelihood that it would still remember its roots and nurture its connection to the Jewish community that founded it. After all, the founders of the hospital are all dead, the sale of the hospital was a quarter of a century ago, and goodness knows it takes a lot to remain competitive in the health care marketplace today. Who has time for roots?
Rose Medical Center has time. Even though there is neither a single practicing physician nor a single administrator at Rose today who was part of the original vision, the current medical and administrative leadership sustains that vision — with enthusiasm. Rose remains Denver’s “Jewish hospital.” Its universal reach, its goal to serve “the need of every creed,” has not eclipsed its place in the Jewish community.
At last week’s celebration marking Rose’s 70 anniversary:
• A restored portrait of its namesake, Gen. Maurice Rose, America’s wildly successful tank commander against the Nazis, was unveiled. He is remembered.
• A stirring address by Marshall Fogel, the author of the most recent book on Gen. Rose, demonstrated, once again, he is remembered.
• A reference to perhaps the leading force among the physicians who backed the hospital, Dr. Sol Bassow, was prominent. He is remembered.
• Dr. Edmond Noel, the first black doctor to be credentialed at a hospital in Denver — Rose — embodying the non-discrimination policy of its Jewish founders, is remembered, not least by his son who attended the anniversary celebration.
• An addition to the Rose Museum remembers the Jewish lay leaders behind the annual Rose fund- raising events of yore; complementing the original Museum photos of the likes of Katy Rose, the general’s mother; Dwight D. Eisenhower, the general who dedicated Rose in 1949, and Max Goldberg, who raised the funds that built Rose.
• A rabbi, the Rose chaplain Jeffrey Kaye, opened the event.
• A special Rose anniversary section, published in the Intermountain Jewish News, included the story of Rose’s Holocaust Torah — the Rose story is told by a Jewish newspaper and via a Holocaust Torah.
• A statement of commitment by Rose’s CEO Ryan Tobin reminded us that previous professional leaders of Rose, Joel Edelman, Philip Kalin and Ken Feiler, were also, as Jews, proud to guide this institution.
• An account of the sale of the hospital, and the consequent Rose Community Foundation, was offered by Jewish lay leader Don Kortz, who has led both institutions. Little did the founders of the hospital, the “Nine Wise Men,” know that not only would they bequeath to Denver a Jewish hospital but a Jewish foundation, endowed beyond their wildest dreams. Denver and Denver Jewry owe these men a lot — and Rose remembers.
“Ownership.” Even after 70 years, the Jewish community has a strong sense of ownership of Rose Medical Center. The feeling is reciprocated. Surely we have here one of the motivating forces behind the quality of care at Rose — a continuation of the founders’ vision, effort and legacy, not least among them, Maurice Shwayder, chairman of the original effort.
Names of the presidents of Rose, its medical staff and women’s division read like a who’s who of Denver Jewry. Cohan. Alpert. Kortz. Hellerstein. Levy. Isaacson. Miller. Quiat. Davine. Robinson. Pollock. Farber. Kurtz. Silverberg. Bassow. Gottesfeld. Laff. Katzman. Auer. Kauvar. Bograd. Reckler. Friedman. Blanchet. Cohen. Alexander. Levine. Nelson. Kaplan. Wahl. Harris. Bronfin. Hepner. Huttner. Craddock. Karsh. Hermann. Shander. Klein. Ginsburg. Goldstein. Shogan. Reed. Cooper. Charney. Schwartzberg. Sherbok. Friedland. Lorber. Towbin. Wagschal. Borwick. Dubin. Balkin. Duman. Lampert. Antonoff. Tucker. Wolf. Stein. Mishell. Dinner. Epstein. Toltz-Miller. Dansky. Moran. And this takes us only through 2003.
The sheer intensity of Jewish commitment that Rose drew from this community set a standard that we could well aspire to today.
Copyright © 2019 by the Intermountain Jewish News
