Atlanta, Ga. (January 28, 2019) — Local philanthropists Brett and Louise Samsky and their son Connor Samsky, whose $6 million gift established the Samsky Advanced Heart Failure Center at Piedmont Heart in 2015, are making an additional $11 million donation to establish the Samsky Invasive Cardiovascular Services Center. The Center will be located within Piedmont Atlanta Hospital’s Piedmont Atlanta Tower, the system’s $603 million expansion project, which is set to open in September 2020.
Brett Samsky, the CEO of Atlanta financial firm Credigy, has a very complex heart health history, which includes advanced heart failure. He also recently battled lung cancer and during his recovery, faced the additional challenges of an ARDS diagnosis, a lung disorder that can be a side effect of operating on the lungs. Prior to making his first donation, Brett received life-saving heart surgery at Piedmont Atlanta. During his health journey, Brett visited a number of top hospitals across the country and he was especially touched by the level of compassionate, patient-centered care he received at Piedmont. Brett’s decision to make this second donation and generous investment in the local Atlanta community was again driven by his personal experience at Piedmont and his desire to have a greater impact on others.
“The technological advancement at Piedmont is exceptional but I go back to its culture, the compassion that it shows for its patients,” Brett said. “This is an investment that will last maybe 100 years into the future and will make a positive difference in the lives of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people. We are fortunate that Atlanta will have one of the best centers in the United States for patients who require heart care.”
The Samsky Advanced Heart Failure Center and the soon-to-be-established Samsky Invasive Cardiovascular Services Center will offer comprehensive care and innovative treatments for every cardiovascular patient treated at Piedmont Atlanta. Charles L. Brown III, M.D., CEO of Piedmont’s Physician Enterprise and an interventional cardiologist, expressed gratitude towards the Samskys.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have generous donors like Brett, Louise and Connor,” Brown said. “We cannot thank them enough on behalf of the incalculable number of future patients whom they will enable to receive some of the best heart care in the world.”
Brett hopes that his family’s investment will inspire others. “Our family wanted to make a gift of this size during our lifetimes so that we can see the positive impact it has on others.” Among those whom Brett and Louise Samsky seek to inspire is their 18-year-old son Connor. Brett and Louise have instilled in Connor their value of philanthropy and want this gift to serve as a model for him.
In establishing the Samsky Advanced Heart Failure Center in 2015, that gift renovated the existing heart failure center and made services more accessible to patients. Previously, heart failure patients had to walk one mile back and forth across Piedmont Atlanta grounds (dubbed “the blue mile”) to get to their various appointments. The Samsky Advanced Heart Failure Center now houses a multidisciplinary team of heart failure specialists in one place and is a top 10 national LVAD (left ventricular assist device) implanting center. The Samskys are proud to be investing in the full spectrum of cardiovascular services and care through this second significant gift of support.
Piedmont Heart Institute, which has one of two heart transplant programs in Georgia, is a top destination for cardiovascular care, ranking in the top 5 percent in the country, and is the only program in Atlanta consistently recognized with the Cardiac Care Excellence Award from Healthgrades – a mark of quality it has earned for nine years. Piedmont is also an international leader in cardiovascular research, enabling patient access to innovative therapies not available elsewhere.
The Piedmont Foundation has raised $110 million towards the $150 million fundraising goal it set for the tower. This state-of-the-art facility will include the establishment of the Marcus Heart and Vascular Center, as well as the expansion of other key healthcare services. The Marcus Foundation made a $75 million gift to help make the tower possible.