Nevada couple pledges $1 million to Mayo Clinic in Arizona

Friday, August 18, 2006

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Heers, Las Vegas, recently pledged $1 million to Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Their gift is designated to the new Mayo Clinic Specialty Building (MCSB), located on the Phoenix campus adjacent to Mayo Clinic Hospital.

"In July, we began the phased occupancy of the Mayo Clinic Specialty Building," says Victor F. Trastek, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Arizona. "The Heers' very generous gift gives us all the more reason to celebrate this new clinical facility." The 172,775-square-foot building has 133 patient exam rooms and will house a radiation oncology practice, abdominal and heart transplant programs and several other surgical practices and represents one of the first steps toward Mayo's 40-year master plan for the Phoenix campus. It is projected that some 1,200 patients will visit the MCSB daily.

Charles Heers has been a builder in Las Vegas since 1953. He was also one of the earliest residential developers in Phoenix. In 1970, he founded Inland Empire Builders, Inc., in Las Vegas and currently serves as president and sole owner. In addition, he is the owner and builder of Tuscany Suites & Casino, an all-suites hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Mrs. Heers also serves as treasurer and secretary of Inland Empire Builders.

The MCSB will provide space for many of the physicians and surgeons now based in the Mayo Clinic Building on the Scottsdale campus. In addition to providing state-of-the-art patient exam and treatment facilities, the facility will also contain the latest simulation equipment for teaching medical and surgical procedures to medical residents and fellows.

"Having our doctors on the Phoenix campus next to Mayo Clinic Hospital greatly enhances our ability to care for patients," says Dr. Trastek. "For more than a century, Mayo Clinic's philosophy has been that a medical building is really a tool for physicians in their daily work. With their long experience in building and development, Mr. and Mrs. Heers are helping us make that philosophy a reality with their gift to the Mayo Clinic Specialty Building."

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. As a leading academic medical center in the Southwest, Mayo Clinic focuses on providing specialty and surgical care in more than 65 disciplines at its outpatient facility in north Scottsdale and at Mayo Clinic Hospital. The 208-licensed bed hospital is located at 56th Street and Mayo Boulevard (north of Bell Road) in northeast Phoenix, and provides inpatient care to support the medical and surgical specialties of the clinic, which is located at 134th Street and Shea Boulevard in Scottsdale.

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