By Skip Sheffield
Gloria Drummond marked her 80th birthday on Aug. 20, but festivities are being delayed so the whole community can join in.
The hospital also announced on Drummond’s birthday that it was being renamed Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
There was no hospital in Boca Raton when Drummond and her family moved to the city in 1951. The closest hospital was Bethesda in Boynton Beach, at least 10 miles and a half-hour away.
That time factor became crucial when Drummond’s children, Debra and James Randall, were poisoned in 1962. By the time the ambulance reached Bethesda, the children were dead.
The memory of Debra and James Randall lives on in the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League, founded by Drummond and a group of her friends, and in the “Miracle on Meadows Road,” the Boca Raton Community Hospital, which opened its doors July 17, 1967.
There are now 1,200 volunteers to help with the hospital’s operation and its fund-raising activities.
Over the years they have raised more than $25 million and have put in 2 million hours of work.
“I wasn’t planning on a big deal for my birthday, but so much for keeping it secret,” Drummond said good-naturedly. “We have certainly come a long way since 1967, and I am very proud of everyone who has worked to found and maintain the hospital.”
The hospital now has 400 beds and more than 700 primary and specialty physicians on staff.
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