St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee received a $500,000 gift from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community (SMDC), presented Saturday night at the 20th annual St. Francis Foundation gala.

“This is the largest gift we have ever made to a charitable organization in Scott County,” said Stanley R. Crooks, SMDC chairman. “We see great value in continuing to grow our relationship with the community through this gift to St. Francis.”

The gift supports the hospital’s recent $40 million expansion project to advance care in the surrounding communities, including the renovation of the Emergency Department.

“We are enormously grateful to the Shakopee Mdewakanton [Dakota] Community for this extraordinary gift,” said Carley Stuber, St. Francis Foundation executive director. “This gift is a wonderful representation of what philanthropy is all about — trust, commitment and the desire to join with others to make a difference while partnering with the community.”

Said Tom O’Connor, St. Francis president: “Having community philanthropic donors such as the Shakopee Mdewakanton [Dakota] Community will allow us to continue to pursue excellence at St. Francis.”

“Many things come into play when you make a philanthropic decision. We believe that St. Francis’ role is great. It is a priority for us and the community at large,” said Glynn A. Crooks, SMDC vice chairman.

St. Francis recently broke ground on a project that will triple the size of its Medical Office Building. Through a partnership between St. Francis and Frauenshuh Cos., the two-level, 60,000-square-foot addition will connect to the current building and house an expanded Allina Medical Clinic on the first floor and rehabilitation services on the second. The building will provide the space necessary to bring a wide array of hospital-affiliated, visiting and independent physicians together to provide more specialty services locally, including orthopedic, neurological, spine and pain management services. The hospital also recently began using an electronic medical records system.

Two major hospital expansion and renovation projects are also nearly complete. The St. Francis Emergency Department has grown from 16 to 21 exam rooms to meet pressing capacity needs. Additional beds, as well as additional triage rooms, enhance flow and help patients feel more comfortable. A 3,000-square-foot expanded and remodeled St. Francis Cancer Center includes the addition of new state-of-art chemotherapy treatment chairs in the infusion area. Patients and staff helped design the new chairs which include such added features as an LCD entertainment system and specially placed tray tables. A Meditation Garden will be constructed near their entrances to further enhance patient care, thanks to hundreds of community donors. The garden will include a water feature, memorial benches and more. Construction will begin in the spring of 2007 and is expected to be completed during summer of 2007.

“Without generous donors like the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community we would not be able to keep up with the needs and expectations of our communities. We are most grateful for their contribution,” said O’Connor.

“We see this relationship as a merging of two similar visions,” said Chairman Stanley Crooks. “St. Francis has a commitment to excellence in health care, as does the SMSC. While St. Francis is the local hospital where many of our community members go for their health care, we believe this donation will help ensure excellence continues with high-quality staff and resources which will benefit all who use St. Francis.”