SOCIETY: Advocate Christ Gala Raises $1.5M for Hospital 'Modernization’

In one of the largest galas of its kind in the Chicago area, more than 1,000 of the area’s leading physicians, key leaders of and Advocate Health Care, donors, supporters and friends raised a record-breaking $1.5 million at the hospital’s annual Salute 2012 on May 5.

Themed “Mission Possible” guests clad in tuxes and formal dresses gathered on the gridiron at Chicago’s Solider Field to support the start of the “unprecedented modernization of the medical center’s campus in Oak Lawn,” Advocate said in a press release.

Ticket sales and sponsorships included a $250,000 gife from Chicago-based Midwest Anesthesiologists, Ltd. Guests forked over an additional $30,000 during a live auction that included tickets to the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans and VIP packets to the People’s Choice Awards in Los Angeles and Madonna’s sold-out concert in September at the United Center.

The keynote speaker was CNN chief correspondent and neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Advocate Christ neurologist Melvin Wichter, MD was named "Outstanding Physician Leader in 2012."

Oak Lawn Mayor Dave Heilmann was honored as “Outstanding Community Leader,” who “brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience as he spoke about his own family’s experiences” and the “compassion and dedication of the campus’ physicians and nurses who got his family through a recent life-threatening illness.”

The modernization includes a

for village board approval. Advocate plans to invest $600 million in modernizing the 50-year-old medical campus.