A heart attack survivor who was treated at University of Connecticut Health’s Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center has donated $1.5 million to the UConn School of Medicine, according to a UConn Today article. The survivor, Donald Reefe, was admitted to the center in December of 2023, where he received treatment that saved his life.
“I attribute my recovery to the hospital, of course,” Reefe said in the article. “As well as the quick work of the doctors, the nurses and the support staff.”
Reefe and his wife Jean left the donation in the form of a bequest, called the Donald and Jean Reefe Family Fund for Cardiology.
Bruce Liang, the dean of the UConn School of Medicine and a founder of the Calhoun Cardiology center, talked about the donation with the Daily Campus.
“[The donation] comes from the gratitude that Donald and Jean felt because we saved Donald’s life,” Liang said. “They just want to give back and see that we continue to be successful in treating others like Donald and prolonging or saving their lives.”
Liang praised the staff at the Calhoun Cardiology center for their work in treating Reefe.
“In the middle of the night, [Reefe] experienced a lot of chest discomfort and weakness. [He] came to our emergency department, and we jumped on it,” Liang said. “I think it was 40-some minutes from the time he showed up in the emergency department here to when the blocked artery was opened, which is amazing. It’s such a short period of time… but the staff and the faculty were ready for him, and he walked out and has been doing fine since.”
Liang said that the donation will be used in many different areas at the school.
“It’s for technology [and] for education to benefit the next generation of trainees, as well as to perform cutting edge research and innovation that can bring the latest therapy to benefit our patients,” Liang said. “[The donation’s usage is] basically at the discretion of the leaders and the faculty.”
Liang also talked about the gratitude that the center receives from their patients.
“We save a lot of people like what we did to Donald and some people have the means to express their gratitude and to give back and to want to continue and sustain the lifesaving efforts, and also the cutting-edge research and innovation that… benefit future patients,” Liang said. “Not everybody has that means and wealth, but they express their gratitude, and we feel very rewarded by that kind of gratitude regardless of what they have to give us.”
Featured photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography