JoAnn and Bob Glick: Partners in Transformation

In 2020, two very special people joined our MetroHealth family, JoAnn and Bob Glick. They were so moved by our mission and fueled by their desire to give back and create real impact, that they committed $42 million to MetroHealth, the largest gift in our 188-year history.

Their transformational gift created The JoAnn and Bob Glick Fund for Healthy Communities and The JoAnn Zlotnick Glick Endowed Fund in Community Health Nursing.

Their gift, in advance of their larger contribution, expanded the MetroHealth Autism Assessment Clinic, the only autism assessment clinic on Cleveland’s west side and the only clinic in Ohio (and one of very few in the country) that accommodates and embraces the language and cultural needs of Hispanic patients and families. JoAnn and Bob’s generosity also supported expansion of the system’s Students Are Free to Express (SAFE) Project, a mental health initiative within MetroHealth’s School Health Program, which provides healthcare services to children while they are at school. SAFE immerses students in the arts – music, dance, theater, visual arts, poetry, drum circles and more – helping them navigate serious mental health challenges, learn how to work through their anxiety and trauma and find healthy outlets for their emotions.

Through their support, MetroHealth became the first public, safety-net hospital to establish a professorship in Community Health Nursing with Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, where JoAnn received her MSN in community health nursing.

The couple has embraced MetroHealth. JoAnn and Bob are true partners in transforming the well-being of the entire Northeast Ohio region. For them, it is personal. JoAnn shared, “I just want to leave the world a better place than it was when I came into it. Knowing that we can do a little piece of that through MetroHealth is as rewarding as it could be.”

MetroHealth President and CEO, Christine Alexander-Rager, MD, says the Glicks are a special couple. She is grateful for their generosity and partnership and for the example they set for others. “Their passion to give where others haven’t and to truly make a difference has already transformed lives,” Dr. Alexander said, “and that will have a ripple effect for generations to come.”