Joan Grabe accepts the 2024 Dr. E.L. Trudeau Award from Dr. Michael Bettmann, an Adirondack Health board member and friend of Joan and her husband Bill. (Provided photo — Mark Kurtz)

SARANAC LAKE — The Adirondack Health Foundation celebrated record attendance at its 2024 summer gala on Saturday, July 6 with nearly 490 attendees.

The foundation’s event raised $250,000 for the Cornerstone Campaign. The cornerstone project will relocate and expand the Renal Dialysis Center and completely renovate Adirondack Medical Center’s two patient care floors and patient rooms — every gift brings the campaign closer to goal.

The evening also honored 2024 Dr. E.L. Trudeau Award honoree Joan Grabe. Earlier this year, Grabe was named trustee emerita after serving three, three-year terms on the foundation board. She also serves as co-chair of the Cornerstone Campaign.

Grabe is a registered nurse who has a home on Upper Saranac with her husband Bill. In addition to her service on the Adirondack Health Foundation’s board, Grabe continues to be very involved with the Hunter Bellevue School of Nursing advisory board. She formerly served on the Hunter College Foundation Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2023. Grabe is in the Hunter College Hall of Fame and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Hunter in 2022. She has also served as a board member of the Adirondack Foundation, the Adirondack Nature Conservancy and ADK Action.

Presenting Grabe with the evening’s award was Dr. Michael Bettmann, an Adirondack Health board member and close friend of Joan and Bill Grabe.

The Dr. E.L. Trudeau Award honors those who demonstrate the qualities of courage, compassion and generosity in their service to Adirondack Health. In awarding Grabe the honor that evening, Bettmann said Grabe is “a unique and wildly deserving recipient” of the honor.

“Joan does not engage in activities lightly,” Bettmann said. “Whatever she undertakes, she commits to intelligently, thoughtfully, actively, and completely. Joan is truly a force of nature, and a wonderful person. She is passionate, direct, and fully engaged in life. To that end, she accepted the very challenging task of co-chairing the current and very successful capital campaign. Joan is truly a force of nature, and a wonderful person. She is passionate, direct and fully engaged in life. She is a wonderful and inspiring grandmother, Adirondacker, and friend. Personally, it is a gift to know Joan, and Bill, and to count them as friends. For Adirondack Health, it is also an honor and a gift to have Joan as an active member of the family. There is no one more deserving of the Dr. E. L. Trudeau Award.”

The evening also featured two raffles, including Best of Live, which was won by Heather Perkins of Lake Placid. Perkins won the Ultimate Sports Fan package. The antique wooden boat raffle was won by Adirondack Health employee Matt Coullier. The boat was generously donated by former Upper Saranac residents Joe and Charlotte Blitt.