February 2, 2005 (FAR ROCKAWAY, NY) - - - St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, South Shore, will honor The Right Reverend Orris G. Walker, Jr., at its 2005 Annual Chrysanthemum Ball. The Chrysanthemum Ball will also commemorate the Hospital’s Centennial. It will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2005, at the Sands at Atlantic Beach.

Bishop Walker has been a staunch advocate of St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. Since 1988, he has served as Chairman of the Board of Managers of Episcopal Health Services Inc., the Hospital’s parent organization, and ensured that it stayed true to its mission of providing quality health care to the sick and needy of the Rockaways and the Five Towns. Early in his tenure as Chairman of the Board of Managers, the Bishop spearheaded the initiative to construct a permanent facility for the Hospital’s Ambulatory Care Center. He has led St. John’s through some of its most difficult times. In 2005, St. John’s celebrates not only its hundredth anniversary but also will satisfy the final requirements under Chapter 11. St. John’s has overcome these difficulties and is now thriving. Today St. John’s has 332 acute care beds, discharged 10,698 patients in 2004, and conducts post-graduate medical education programs for 52 allopathic residents and 76 osteopathic residents and interns annually. These accomplishments are due in no small measure to the Bishop’s leadership and the longtime commitment of Episcopal Health Services Inc. and the Diocese of Long Island to serving the healthcare needs of the people of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. The Bishop also serves as the Board Chairman of Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn.

On June 25, 1905, the Sisters of St. Joseph founded St. Joseph’s Hospital, the first hospital established to serve the people of the Rockaways-Five Towns area. The mission of St. Joseph’s was to serve the sick and needy regardless of race, color or creed and to extend charity to those who need it, a worthy mission which continues to be upheld at St. John’s today. In 1976, Episcopal Health Services Inc. assumed responsibility for the Hospital as well as long-held community expectations that the institution be expanded and modernized. The Hospital, renamed St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, South Shore, became known as the “Miracle Hospital,” after raising $33 million in construction funds. In 1983 New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch presided over the dedication ceremony for the 11-story newly constructed Tower Building.

For more information about the Chrysanthemum Ball, please contact the Development Office at St. John’s at 718-869-8383.