MEDIA CONTACT: Jennifer Harpaz
954-762-5244, jharpaz@fau.edu

FAU and Holy Cross Hospital
Reach Out to Students Affected by Hurricane Katrina

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL (December 13, 2005) - A check presentation ceremony recently brought representatives from Florida Atlantic University to Holy Cross Hospital of Fort Lauderdale. Adopting FAU's charge to provide Gulf Coast students displaced by Hurricane Katrina with higher education opportunities, Holy Cross Hospital generously pledged to help two New Orleans students, Ta'Veca Hinton and Dreama Goldsmith, temporarily enrolled at FAU, continue their studies in medical-related fields. Each student was awarded $5,000 from Holy Cross. The money will help Hinton and Goldsmith with educational and living expenses while attending FAU. There are a total of 45 students from such schools as Tulane University and Xavier University of Louisiana currently taking classes on FAU campuses.

"The tradition of community outreach has guided Holy Cross Hospital for 50 years," said Mark Dissette, vice president of Physician Services for Holy Cross Hospital. "Our hospital's Donation Committee chose to support students at FAU because of our long-standing partnership with the University. By joining efforts with FAU, we can create tremendous opportunities for young people."

"Anytime you invest in young people, you invest in the future," adds Sister Levasseur, vice president of Sponsorship and Mission Effectiveness for Holy Cross Hospital. "We are especially interested in these two wonderful students because they are both pursuing careers in helping professions."

As a graduate student in Tulane University's School of Social Work, Ta'Veca Hinton, a native of Fort Lauderdale, is striving toward a career in mental health and hopes to one day work as a psychotherapist with children and teens. She is currently gaining valuable experience through an internship with the Intensive Delinquency Diversion Services program at Psychotherapeutic Services. Hinton will graduate this December with a master's degree in social work from Tulane University.

For Dreama Goldsmith, Hurricane Katrina could have put an end to a promising future career in the pharmaceutical industry. In her second year of the six-year program at Xavier University of Louisiana's College of Pharmacy, Goldsmith is temporarily enrolled in FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and benefiting from the College's outstanding biotechnology courses and faculty. She has been told that Xavier will be ready to resume classes in January and though eager to return to New Orleans, a place she has called home for most of her life, she will miss the relaxed pace of Boca Raton. Goldsmith hopes to one day design life-saving drugs and has a special interest in pharmacology for pediatric oncology patients. Without FAU, Goldsmith's intensive course of study would have been put on hold for at least four valuable months.

Additional efforts, led by faculty, staff and students to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina were widespread on FAU campuses. Both fund-raising and emergency supply drives were conducted. The Sallie Mae Fund matched Hurricane Katrina relief contributions of $25 or more made by FAU employees to the American Red Cross. This greatly leveraged the value of donations made to FAU's "Dollar Drive" and "Beads for the Bayou" campaigns. Other fund-raising initiatives included an emergency supplies campaign for canned goods, first aid kits, baby care items, children's vitamins and personal hygiene products, as well as a Yogathon meditation fund-raiser.

-FAU-

Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the university serves 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses strategically located along 150 miles of Florida's southeastern coastline. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts eight colleges - the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, and the Colleges of Business, Education, Engineering & Computer Science, and Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs.

Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is a full-service, non-profit Catholic hospital, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. Holy Cross is a 2004 & 2005 US News & World Report "Best Hospital", and HealthGrades "Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence," 2004 and 2005. Since opening its doors in 1955, the 576-bed hospital has offered progressive services and programs to meet the evolving healthcare needs of Broward County. The name Holy Cross remains synonymous with medical excellence and highly personalized care. Holy Cross takes pride in the ability to combine quality medical care and advanced technology with sincere human compassion and understanding. The hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and provides care for more than 15,000 in-patients annually, earning its medical team a reputation for excellence, unsurpassed in the community. To learn more about Holy Cross, visit www.holy-cross.com.