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Nighttime view of Temple University Children's Medical Center Temple University Hospital in background, Kresge Hall (left) and Medical Research Building (right) in foreground Old Medical School building in foreground, Jones Hall, General Services building and Student Faculty Center to the right

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HER GIFT TO TEMPLE ORTHOPAEDICS HONORS DAD

July 18, 2011

CONTACT: Krista Giuffi krista.giuffi@temple.edu

215-707-3396

 

From left: Larry R. Kaiser, MD, FACS, Dean of Temple University School of Medicine and CEO, Temple University Health System; Penny Blatt; Sandra Gomberg, CEO, Temple University Hospital; and Joseph Thoder, MD, Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine. Photo by Ryan Brandenberg, Temple University.

From left: Larry R. Kaiser, MD, FACS, Dean of Temple University School of Medicine and CEO, Temple University Health System; Penny Blatt; Sandra Gomberg, CEO, Temple University Hospital; and Joseph Thoder, MD, Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine.

Photo by Ryan Brandenberg, Temple University.

 

Although Abraham M. Rechtman, MD ’23, died more than 40 years ago, people still regale his daughter, Penny Blatt, with stories about him. “Decades later, they still remember things he did and said,” she says.

 

For many years, the 1923 graduate of Temple University School of Medicine served as Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. Einstein continues to hold the annual Abraham Rechtman, MD Lecture and Orthopedic Alumni Day in his honor. He also served on the staff of the Betty Bacharach Home for Crippled Children in Atlantic City, NJ, and volunteered for area high school sports teams as a “team doc.”

 

“My father was the most wonderful father in the world, and I think he deserves to be remembered,” said Ms. Blatt, who, in June 2011, made a $1 million gift to Temple in his honor.

 

Half the gift endows the Abraham M. Rechtman, MD, Endowed Orthopaedic Research Fund in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine. The other half names the Abraham M. Rechtman, MD, Outpatient Orthopaedic Clinic in the hospital’s Boyer Pavilion.

 

During the formal dedication of the Rechtman Clinic on June 25, 2011, Ms. Blatt said the decision to make a gift in her father’s name at Temple was “almost automatic.”

 

“Temple was an important part of my father’s life. He always raved about his time there as a medical student and felt a special kinship with the school,” she said.

 

“Ms. Blatt’s donation reinforces Temple as a leader in medical education, research and healthcare,” said Larry R. Kaiser, MD, FACS, Dean, Temple University School of Medicine, Senior Executive Vice President, Temple University, and CEO, Temple University Health System.

 

Sandra L. Gomberg, RN, MSN, President and CEO of Temple University Hospital, commented on the gift’s role in furthering Dr. Rechtman’s and Temple’s “shared obligation to the stewardship of our patients and community.”

 

Joseph Thoder, MD ’83, Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery, used the word “immeasurable” to describe the gift’s “direct impact on the research being done at Temple in orthopaedics.”

 

The gift -- and what it means for orthopaedic care and research at Temple – means a lot to Temple. It means even more to Ms. Blatt, who said, “it ensures that my father’s legacy lives on.”