Beacon Journal staff report
Summa Health honored a local philanthropic couple this week after they gave an undisclosed gift to establish a chair at Summa’s Traumatic Stress Center in Akron.
Jim and Vanita Oelschlager established the chair in their name.
The gift was announced this week to more than 150 people during Summa Health Foundation’s annual program in Naples, Fla.
“The generosity of the Oelschlagers comes at a critical time in our society as more and more people are suffering from traumatic stress while at the same time there is insufficient access to care due to a shortage of professionals with specialized expertise in the most effective treatment methods,” Patrick Palmieri, Ph.D., the inaugural holder of the Oelschlager chair, said, in a news release. “PTSD from military combat, crime victimization and other types of traumatic experiences is a significant public health problem that must be addressed more thoroughly.”
Jim is the founder of Oak Associates Ltd., a mutual fund and investment firm in Bath Township. Vanita is a children’s book author. Last year, they received the 49th Bert A. Polsky Humanitarian Award. In 2000, they created the Oak Clinic, a nonprofit facility in Green for people with multiple sclerosis. Jim was diagnosed with MS in the 1970s.
Over the decades, the Oelschlagers have donated millions of dollars to local causes, charities and scholarships.
The amount of their latest gift was not disclosed in a mutually agreed-upon decision by the Oelschlagers and Summa Health. But with this gift, the couple’s support of Summa Health totals nearly $4 million, according to the news release.
They made their first gift to Summa Health in 1987 and have continued to support the health system philanthropically across three decades. They are members of the Thomas W. Cornell Philanthropic Leadership Society, which recognizes donors with lifetime giving of $1 million or more to Summa Health.
“Vanita and I are truly honored to support Summa’s Traumatic Stress Center in its mission to address this significant public health issue,” Jim Oelschlager said. “The work of Dr. Palmieri and his team is vitally important. We are very happy to help.”