An American Charity has been formed to raise funds to support King Edward VII Memorial Hospital — a fund supported by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and led by a former Bermuda insurance executive, Jerry de St Paer, who worked for XL Capital on the Island.

A new website (http://bermudawellnessfoundation.com/) explained: “The Bermuda Wellness Foundation (BWF) is a US-registered charitable organisation, founded by Americans who have a significant connection with Bermuda through business, personal relations, or residences present or past.

The BWF’s mission is a straightforward one: “We seek to build understanding and support for key initiatives that will create and sustain a world-class standard of healthcare in Bermuda.”

This is a huge boost to new efforts to provide permanent fundraising activity for the Island’s only medical hospital, as an extension to efforts of the BHCT.

The BHCT’s “Why it Matters” campaign is inching closer to its $40-million goal, yet with $32.5 million in the kitty, trustees are re-doubling their efforts to get across the finish line near the September 14 projected opening of the acute care wing.

Once that initial goal is behind them, the trustees will consider if the trust, or some variation of it, can be re-organised as a long term fund raising organisation.

The BHCT was charged with raising the first $40 million to convey to Paget Health Services (PHS) as a down payment on the acute care wing. A cheque for $20 million has already been provided.

PHS is a consortium of Bermudian and international companies which was formed to design, build, finance and maintain a new facility at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Bermuda.

But executive director of BHCT, Ralph Richardson, said the new US charity — a 501C3 US registered charity — is a particularly interesting development. The website stated: “As the American counterpart of the BHCT, the BWF focuses on central healthcare issues as well as on wellness programmes that support and encourage healthy lifestyles, early testing and preventative measures. While the BWF works closely with the BHCT on many aspects of fundraising, we are a completely independent foundation that is actively seeking support from US-based corporations and individuals to underwrite our mission and accompanying initiatives.”

Meanwhile, Mr Richardson said the BHCT has been looking at hospital development models elsewhere to see how others pay for ongoing equipment costs.

He said: “I recently visited a hospital in New Jersey just a few weeks ago to see how they are funding their future.

“Our trustees will have to make a decision on how we could continue to support project funding for hospital needs.

“Long term, this would help the hospitals with a continuous stream of funding, for needed hospital development. That could be new hospital equipment, which is expensive.”

The trust was established initially to complete the number one task of this capital campaign — to raise $40 million to make this project work. Forty million dollars is the number that the developers — Paget Health Services — said they would need as a down payment.

Mr Richardson said: “That could be the end of it. But there are other incredible opportunities. We’ve looked at different models for hospitals that deal with ongoing fundraising to provide further flexibilities for the future needs of the hospital.

“If they need a $10-million machine, they usually have the money right there, because their development, or fundraising, is ongoing.

“And we are looking at how they are doing it, because that model will help to support the hospital on an ongoing basis.

“If something new came out that would be helpful to the hospital in the ability to provide better care, then we should be able to buy it. We should not have to start a new fundraising effort, or start a new charity. We should have a charity set up to raise funds for the hospital. If it is done on a continuing basis, it is no longer a huge burden, every time something is needed.”