A $1 million donation from the former co-owners of a longtime Tacoma scrap metal business will help fund holistic care at MultiCare Regional Cancer Center locations in the South Sound, the health care provider announced this week.
The donation is from Norman and Barbara Simon of Gig Harbor.
The Simon family operated Tacoma’s Joseph Simon & Sons metal recycling business from 1925 through mid-2008, when family members sold it to a Canadian investment firm.
The Norman and Barbara Simon Endowment for Holistic Care will provide healing resources at the MultiCare Regional Cancer Center at Tacoma General Hospital and at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, as well as sites in Auburn, Covington and Gig Harbor, the health care concern said.
The donation was prompted in part by family members’ own bouts with cancer. Norman Simon survived cancer, and his brother Philip died of lymphoma in 2008.
“We believe that holistic medicine treats the mind, the body and the spirit,” Barbara Simon said. “When you hear a diagnosis of cancer, the first thing you experience is fear. A holistic approach offers so much comfort and healing. We’re excited that MultiCare physicians are open to integrating this as part of their care for patients and their families.”
“This endowment will provide improved access for people who would like to have complementary holistic services such as acupuncture, massage or naturopathic consultations as part of their cancer care,” said David Nicewonger, Oncology Administrator for MultiCare Health System. “By bringing together these services, all the practitioners will have an opportunity to coordinate in a way that serves the best overall interests of the patient.”
The gift was not the first to MultiCare from the Simons. A $500,000 donation from Norman and Barbara Simon and Philip and Snookey Simon helped fund The Simon Chapel, which opened in March 2010 on MultiCare’s Tacoma campus.
John Gillie: 253-597-8663
john.gillie@thenewstribune.com
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