Silver Cross dedicates ER in honor of Kurtz and Vana families

A 40-year relationship between a prominent New Lenox family and the town’s Silver Cross Hospital was honored with a new name for the hospital’s emergency services building.

In a ceremony Monday afternoon in front of the ER, Marilyn Kurtz, Tom and Michele Vana and their two children were honored as the building was named The Kurtz and Vana Family Pavilion.

The family last May donated an undisclosed but “substantial” amount to the expansion of the hospital’s ER, said Tracy Simons, director of marketing.

“[The donation] was made because of the relationship that the Kurtz and Vana families have had with the medical center for 40 years,” Tom Vana said.

Tom Vana has headed his family’s three funeral homes and Kurtz Ambulance Service for the past 15 years, taking over from his father, Karl Kurtz, who passed away last year from complications from Parkinson’s disease.

“Not just that of a business relationship but truly that of a friendship and that of a family,” Tom Vana said.

His wife, Michele, said, “It just fits. We have grown here together.”

Both teared up as Tom Vana recounted the compassion and love the family received from the hospital staff in 2012 as their 16-year-old son, Jay, who had been in a car accident, died in the hospital’s ER. “They cried with us, and they hugged us.”

Pastor Dave Jaspers of Ridgewood Baptist Church opened the ceremony by recounting the story of the Kurtz and Vana family, who moved to and became rooted in New Lenox in 1977.

After the move with their sons, Tom Vana and Joey Kurtz, Karl and Marilyn Kurtz opened the Kurtz Memorial Chapel. By November of that year, Karl had bought a 1972 Cadillac ambulance and started the Kurtz Ambulance Service.

For years, the couple answered calls and dispatched ambulances from their home 24 hours a day. In the first year, they ran 300 calls. Between the funeral home and the ambulance service, the family built a strong bond with the hospital.

The family have been sponsors for the hospital’s annual Childerguild Ball and the Silver Cross Foundation Charity Golf Outing. After the death of their son, Joey, the Kurtzs made donations to the then Joliet-based hospital’s emergency room and have made other donations as well over the years.

When the hospital had to move 129 patients to its new building in New Lenox, Tom Vana offered ambulance services for the move as a courtesy.

Silver Cross President and CEO Paul Pawlak thanked the family for its service to the hospital and community, saying that the new sign looked “very impressive and will last a lifetime.”

“Sometimes we concentrate on the bottom line, but what really matters is individuals, groups and medical staff and friendships that can last decades. … On behalf of the Silver Cross family, we are so grateful we can call you friends and [for] your support for Silver Cross all these years,” Pawlak said.

Michele Vana spoke for the family.

“It’s a story 40 years in the making,” she said. “A story of a brave couple taking a chance … and a small community hospital taking a chance on a very small ambulance company.”

She said the date of the ceremony had particular significance for the family because it was the day after what would have been Karl’s 75th birthday.

After the ceremony, to mark the fifth year to the day of Jay’s passing, the family planned to take about 30 teenagers from Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization on a shopping spree at their son’s favorite store. This is part of their annual “Jaying It Forward” commitment – doing random acts of kindness in the community – to honor their son, Michele Vana said.